Today is THAT day!

It’s happened! That day that every parent dreads and hopes that maybe, just maybe, it wont happen with their child. Today was the day my child said “Why?”. The sequel to “”What ya doin’?”. In fact, today, it went hand in hand with that other parent’s favourite “Are we nearly there?”.

The conversation in the car on the way home from feeding the ducks today went like this:

Callum: Are we nearly there? (as soon as we had left the car park)
Me: Not yet, we’ve still got a way to go
Callum: Why?
Me: Silence (hoping it was just a random word and had no context)
Callum: Why?
Me: *sigh*, because we have only just started driving and we live quite a way from the park.

1 minute later:

Callum: Are we nearly there?
Me: No, Callum, we are only slightly further than last time you asked and still have a way to go to home
Callum: Why?
Me: *giggle* (it dawned on me that my child had turned in to a stereotype aged 3)

So, this is it, the battle of wits between child and adult begins. Who will outsmart the other first?

I have thought quite a bit about how I’d handle the “Why?” phase. I’ve had 3 good years to prepare. At least that is one advantage to Callum being a slow speaker, I’ve had 3 years without it to think and prepare. Three whole years of watching my friends’ frustrations as they battle with their child(ren) striving to always find some kind of answer to appease their ever curious little one and ending their barrage of whys before settling on “just because” or “because Mummy/Daddy says so and Mummy/Daddy is always right” or variations thereof. So, this is my theory:

I’m a trainer – surely, I can use my skills as a trainer on my own child’s development, yes? Of course its going to work!

As often as possible, when Callum says “Why?” I will ask him to first suggest a sensible answer of what he thinks the answer is. Only after I have received a sensible suggestion from him will I offer the correct reason (assuming there is an answer). The best way to learn is to find the answer ourselves, that’s what I’ve learnt in my own training…so this must work on a pre-schooler too? Yes? It will work wont it?:It has to work! I have no other ideas and I don’t know if I will cope with the constant repetition of the ‘why’ question!!! *takes another large glug at wine to subdue the grips of panic*.

Actually, I do have one other theory but it would only work for a slightly older child – look it up! That’s my theory – telling them to look it up! Google it! We are not breeding the Google generation for nothing!

But I am really, really hoping Callum will have grown out of the “why?” phase by the time he can read. If only he could read now!

Right! Time to step up the reading lessons!!!!! Its time we moved past “Curly C for Callum”!