# How long does the why phase last? Please.



## wannabe (Jul 4, 2005)

I thought I was tough. I'm not. I have an unreasonable why-er and it's killing me. I'll explain relativity to her if she wants, but half the time why doesn't even make sense in context.

How long do we have to cope with this. It's been almost three months so far.


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## nonnymoose (Mar 12, 2004)

FOREVER AND EVER.

Seriously, ours does it too, though fortunately not all the time. When he's "on," I do a lot of patient answering, followed by an AAAGHDON'TASKMEANOTHERQUESTION, then back to the patient answering. If it gets really bad, I have no problem telling him he needs to lay off the questions because he's driving Mommy bonkers.


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## PumpkinSeeds (Dec 19, 2001)

Forever and Ever. Yep. And if you plan on homeschooling, brace yourself.


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## LynnS6 (Mar 30, 2005)

You don't want to know my answer.

Ds started the why stage at 35 months (2 years 11 months). He's 6.5 now. And he's still going.

Sample:
We're reading a story about the moon reflecting off of something, and I use the word 'reflection':
Ds: What's a reflection?
Me: Well, it's when light bounces off of something and so you can see it again, kind of like when you look in a mirror.
Ds: Why?
Me: Why what?

The absolute worst was the first year or so -- from age 3 to 4. He would ask why after almost every single thing I said. Even his preschool teachers commented on how often he asked why, and they've seen a lot of kids asking why!

It's died down since then, but he is a pretty incessant question asker. And you're right, sometimes 'why' makes no sense.

Ds: What's that mom?
Me: That's a river, hon.
Ds: Why?








: _Why is that a river_????

I find that "why what?" sometimes helps because then it'll make him formulate the real question (why is that called a river? why is there a river there?). He also often uses 'why' when what he really wants to know is 'how', so querying further sometimes brings that out.

Some people have luck with "Why do you think?" but that never worked for my ds. He really did want to know why, it wasn't just a conversational device to get my attention. Mostly, I just answered.

When it got too much, I would declare a break from questions. So, I'm the mom you heard in Target saying "That's it! No more questions until after we're through the checkout line!" People would look at me funny, but they have no idea what it's like to be bombarded by constant questions!


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## granolalight (Nov 1, 2006)

My dd is 7.5. It hasn't ended.


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## timneh_mom (Jun 13, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *granolalight* 
My dd is 7.5. It hasn't ended.

Oh, no.


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## Xoe (Oct 28, 2007)

I'm the odd man out. My DD didn't do this for too long...maybe six months or so? I'm not saying she doesn't ask "why." Of course she asks about everything. But that annoying, sometimes defiant "why" that doesn't make sense? That "why" that seems like it's some other version of whining? That didn't last for too long. Nope...Now I'll tell her something and she'll tell me "I don't think sooooo.....I think it's blah, blah, blah." And frankly, being told I'm wrong about every other thing is just as annoying, LOL!

xoe


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## IlluminatedAttic (Aug 25, 2006)

So funny, I was going to post about this tonight. My ds is just 2.5 and began the why phase about two weeks ago. He is relentless. On a positive note, for us anyway, I guess we have found a way to really begin discussing the concept of God because just about every interchange gets all the way to the, "Well, honey, I guess because that's just the way God made it" ending. To hear that the "phase" continues for years, well that just makes me feel exhausted.


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## Rio Mama (Apr 9, 2006)

Why do you ask?

(Sorry, couldn't help myself.)

Oftentimes we'll get to "I don't know" fairly quickly, especially if I'm driving.

I remember there was a period of time where it just seemed like it wasn't so much that he wanted to know the answer, but rather he just wanted to talk about a particular subject (or hear me talk about it). "Why?" was just his opener, which is pretty good for a little kid, if you think about it.

Sometimes I'll ask him "why do you think?" and if he really wants to know the answer, he gets a little frustrated, but if he's just talking to talk, he might come up with something interesting. We sometimes get streams of consciousness that go on for half an hour.


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## wannabe (Jul 4, 2005)

why did I ask? Stupid Stupid me! I should have gone on wondering if it would be a three or six month thing.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *LynnS6* 
Ds: What's that mom?
Me: That's a river, hon.
Ds: Why?








: _Why is that a river_????

LOL, I've been delving into etymology. "well, because the romans used the word Riverus for river and we derived it from that".

I definitely agree that often the why isn't really the question. But when it's "why is it zucchini?" I do get stumped.

Oh, and did you know that what's inside the earth isn't rock under dirt, or even molten iron, it's flowers. Lots of flowers.


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