Why the why phase?

‘Ohw, why then?’. That’s the very latest addition to our toddler’s vocabulary. Not just once a day, but this question repeats itself regularly.

Preferably three hundred in a row too.

The Why phase

Somehow I was under the impression that this phase would not come until much later in life. After a little research on the internet it appears that this phase is applicable around 3-4 years old. So it is not at all surprising that I regularly make up answers to our little man’s why questions.
A child initially starts with questions like who, what or where. Where is daddy, who is that, where is bear? Those are still relatively simple to answer. Children ask these questions because they want to discover the world and so they can also expand their vocabulary. Super functional so.

So did the why questions. These require quite a bit of thinking from a toddler, they learn to make connections that way. Also, the answers to these questions are much more interesting than others.

This again brings up additional questions. So for toddlers, asking why questions is actually a super educational exercise both cognitively and linguistically.

Ohw, why then?

The last few days I hear more and more why questions here at home. The little man is at the beginning of the well-known why phase. Three cheers! Ahum.. not!

Now I find it kind of cute that he wants to know exactly everything. I have actually long been used to the fact that the toddler often asks how something works. So I expected this why phase to also be a piece of cake would be.

My imagination is pretty big but sometimes after a few why-ers in a row I’m really exhausted.
This afternoon also. We were making banana cookies together. Super tasty lunch dish is that. The little man always likes to put everything in such’s tomado device and then pull the string.

The blade in the container finishes the contents then. However, there was now a crack in the container. So I said we were going to try to use it carefully. “Ohw, why then?” Because otherwise everything runs out through the crack. “Why then?” Because the container is broken. I noticed that I got stuck after only two answers. “Why then?” I think the tray in the dishwasher broke. It was silent for a while.

I saw him thinking. “Why did the dishwasher do that?” He did that by accident. “Ohw, why then?” Well sometimes such things happen. “Why?” By now I was out of water. I then chatted it up nicely and grabbed a pan to bake the cookies. Mister actually settled for this. 1-0 for mummy!

The rest of the day was remarkably quiet with the why questions. I look forward to seeing how this phase develops. Would be nice if I cycle through it like this. With some toddler ailments or phases, I always like to know what the function is. As I described above, the why phase is an important step in a child’s cognitive and language development.

When I’m done with it for a while, I just remember that it’s really good for something.

How did this phase go for you? Made you hor and crazy too? I am curious!

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