Q&A: When did your toddler start asking and answering “Why?” questions?

Hi,my name is Anne,I did the following:
Question: When did your toddler start asking and answering “Why?” questions?

My son will be three in May, and he doesn’t seem to understand the question, “Why?” He understands, and asks who, what, where, & when, but I thought he would be able to get basic why questions by now. If asked why he did something, he looks at you confused, and just repeats the question. He also never asks why questions when he doesn’t get why he isn’t allowed to do something.

I realize that this is not a newborn question, but I usually get more answers from you all than I do on the toddler page, and I know that some of you have toddlers in addition to your newborns.

Q&A:

Answer by SS
at around 2 years old they started asking the why questions, phew that was ruff. Give you little one time, he will soon start asking all babies develop differently

Answer by Teeny Beeny
My son just turned 3 on March 2nd, and he’s really into the “why” stage. His response to everything I ask him is “why?” If I ask him why he did something, he usually gives an imaginative (although untruthful) answer. You’re lucky he hasn’t started that phase yet, lol!

I don’t think you have anything to worry about at all. My son barely said a word until he was 18 months, and now I can’t shut him up lol. My son is very verbal and imaginative, but he’s behind on some things-He can’t identify colors, or say his ABC’s all the way through. So your son is probably ahead with his development in some areas, but verbally, he’s right were he should be.

Answer by starrjewell #3 is here!!
my 21 month old just started asking why (GGGRRRR) but has answered why (usually with i dont know) since about 19 months when she started putting words together

Answer by mystic_eye_cda
My son just turned three and he doesn’t get why either.

Actually if you say something like “Did you push your brother” chances are he will not give you a “truthful” answer. But he is just as likely to give the answer that will get him in trouble so he’s not “lying” as such.

http://www.drgreene.org/body.cfm?id=21&action=detail&ref=564
You’ve asked a question I’ve heard over and over from parents all around the world. We love to hear the quaint expressions our kids come up with as their language skills blossom, but sometimes their insistent questions seems a bit like the drip, drip, drip of an ancient water torture.

We’re frustrated for two reasons. Often we don’t know the real answers to the innocent questions they ask, but even when we do, our answers don’t slow the pace of their relentless questions. That’s because we’ve misunderstood their language and think that when they ask “why?” they mean the same thing we mean when we ask why. Our cause-and-effect answers miss the mark, and so they fail to satisfy. I’ll give you the key to unlock their language so you can answer the real question behind their many, many “whys.” Then both of you can revel in the joy of your communication.

[...]

I remember when one of my own sons asked me why the sky was blue. I told him that on sunny days the sky was blue and that on cloudy days it was gray and that at night it was very, very dark. Sometimes in-between day and night, it’s a pretty pink or orange. And there are cool things in the sky. The sun gives us heat and light. It’s like the stars, only closer. There are planets that go around the sun, and we live on one of them, called Earth.

Notice that I didn’t at all answer why the sky is blue, but I did connect with him and answer his real question. He was delighted with our interchange and I got an enthusiastic “cool,” not another automatic “why?” We both won.

http://www.babyworld.co.uk/information/baby/baby_development/why_children_ask_why.asp
From around the age of three – sometimes earlier – your child will begin to see the world through new eyes: it’s a wonderful age of discovery, and a time when children begin to make the connection between cause and effect. It’s also a nail-biting time for parents who may feel ill equipped to find answers, and who may come to dread any question that begins with ‘Why?’.

Really we should be privately celebrating the onset of this barrage of tricky questions, as it heralds a sudden upsurge in your child’s intellectual development. The younger child will simply accept that things are the way they are; the child with a greater degree of mental maturity will want to know why.

Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!

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