What Not To Do When Your Kids Have Questions

Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it is the catalyst for a self-owned education. We want kids who love to learn, who own their own journey toward knowledge, and grow to be self-starters. All of this is born from a well-nourished curiosity when they are children.

Nothing can drive a parent more crazy than to hear the word, “why” five hundred times a day, but wanting to know why is the first step for a child to own his/her education. Here are three things NOT to do when it comes to your child’s curious inquisitions:

Don’t say no if you can reasonably say yes

The last thing you may want to do after a long day is allow a spontaneous experiment at your freshly-cleaned kitchen table, but doing so every once and a while not only creates fun memories but also encourages hands-on learning that can’t be replicated in any other way. Of course there are other ways to encourage hands-on learning that don’t include baking soda and vinegar volcanoes. If your child has taken a sudden interest in the solar system, maybe a night camping in the backyard star-gazing would fit the bill. Interested in sea animals and other ocean life? Maybe a beach vacation isn’t in the cards right now, but perhaps a trip to an aquarium is. Or even an hour at home exploring a free virtual aquarium tour like this one could be fun and educational. Finding ways to say yes to your child’s educational inquiries can not only be fun and creative, but can pay dividends in the way they view learning and relate to the many questions they will have as they grow.

Don’t waste precious minutes in the car or doing routine tasks

With the many technology devices that surround our lives daily, knowledge and learning are literally at our fingertips. Podcasts, free libraries like LibraVox, and apps galore make it possible for us to be literally fed knowledge 24/7. If you have a learner dying to know why the leaves change color in the fall or who the first person on the moon was, consider finding a fun podcast or renting an audiobook on the topic for the drives to and from extracurricular events. Even having Alexa play a podcast while doing chores can make the tasks less boring all while feeding hungry minds with knowledge.

Don’t rush knowledge at the expense of learning

Sure you may be able to answer a seemingly random question with a few explanations, but how much more valuable will the answer be if they are prompted to search books from the library on the topic or open a dictionary? Even a parent-supervised Google and/or YouTube search can prove to be a more relationship-connecting experience with the answers they find. The key is self-motivated curiosity followed by self-directed knowledge seeking. Simply giving them answers may quiet the demands momentarily, but teaching them how to learn will always prove more fulfilling and engaging for both parent and child in the long run.

So whether we think the questions might be the end of us, or we’re hoping to draw out more curiosity in the minds of our children, it never hurts to model life-long learning through simple acts to seek out knowledge and teach our kids how to find the answers they long for. Who knows what lies ahead for the child that can’t help asking why.