Question: How do you handle the "Why" phase without losing your mind?

Dec 121 min read

My son just turned 5 and the questions literally never stop. "Why is the sky blue? Why do we eat? Why do birds have feathers? Why why why?" I love that he's curious but after about question 47 I'm just... done. I've tried answering genuinely, I've tried the "great question, what do YOU think" redirect, I've even googled some stuff to give real answers. Nothing stops the flood. Do you guys just accept this is life now or is there actually a strategy that works? My brain is fried by dinner time.

11 comments362 views

Comments(11)

SSam P.RegularDec 13

I started giving increasingly absurd answers to see if he'd notice. "Why do we eat?" "So we can power our robot bodies" and he just accepts it. Has genuinely extended my sanity by like 20 minutes each day.

LLeo R.New DadDec 13

47 questions is generous lol. My 5yo hits like 60+ and half of them are repeats from the same day. "Why is the sky blue?" "Because of light waves" "Yeah but WHY though?" Send help.

RRandy S.RegularDec 13

The worst part is when they ask why and you give a legit answer and they just say "okay" and ask something completely different. Like sir I just spent 2 minutes on bird feather aerodynamics

PPatrick W.RegularDec 14

Question 47 is where I lose it too lol. I started giving myself permission to just say "I don't know buddy, let's look it up together later" instead of trying to answer everything in the moment

BBen H.RegularDec 14

Pro tip: redirect the questions sometimes. When my son gets into the why spiral I ask HIM why he thinks something is true. Turns it into a conversation instead of 20 questions and buys you some sanity

MMike R.New DadDec 15

The why phase is actually incredible for their brain development but man it tests your patience like nothing else. My 5yo asked me why grass is green for like the 10th time yesterday and I almost lost it

LLarry P.RegularDec 14

Have you tried telling him you need to "save" questions for later and then answering like 5 at bedtime? Sounds weird but it actually worked for us - gave us a break during the day

MMarvin T.RegularDec 15

Honest take: I started letting him ask questions during designated times instead of all day. Like "save those great questions for why time after dinner" and it actually worked. Sounds dumb but having a boundary helped both of us.

TTyler K.RegularDec 15

This is the part about 5yo that nobody warns you about. Like yeah they're learning and curious which is great but also you will be explaining the same stuff 500 times

NNoah B.New DadDec 15

The sky blue question specifically - I just bookmarked a YouTube video that explains it in kid terms and now when he asks I'm like "wanna watch this instead of daddy explaining it badly?" Game changer.

BBen D.RegularDec 13

Haha the robot bodies thing is gold. I'm gonna steal that because the "why" loop at 5 is legitimately exhausting. Like I get that curiosity is good but there's a limit to how many times I can explain gravity