# When could your toddler answer/ ask "why?"



## Quagmire (Sep 27, 2005)

Just curious about when other toddlers understood and could answer the question "why?"

And not sure if this is a separate milestone, but when did your toddler ask "why" about things?

If your toddler is not doing these things yet, how old is s/he?

We are getting to the stage where DD understands cause and effect. For example, if she is painting and puts the paintbrush/ dobber/ etc. in her mouth, we put the paint away. If I ask her, DD why did we put the paint away she can answer "I put it in my mouth."

However she's not consistent with answering the question why, especially when it comes to her feelings. For example, she asks for a drink of water. I hand her a drink of water and she freaks out. I ask her why she's upset, or what is wrong, and she can't answer me. I ask her again what it is that she wants, and she says water, then resumes freaking out














:

I'm not sure if it's a heat of the moment thing or if she truly doesn't understand the question. Perhaps answering why won't really solve my problem but it sure would help to get an answer!


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## wawap (Jun 28, 2004)

He won't consistently answer a "why" question, but he SURE can ask, "WHY?" a bajillion times a day.







I sort of take the answering my whys with a grain of salt because he mostly answers, "yes!" to every question.









He's just shy of 27 months.


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## Yooper (Jun 6, 2003)

My 29 month dd can definitely ask it but cannot seem to answer it very well. Very frustrating!


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## VeganSculptor (Apr 20, 2004)

My son also asks it a lot, but doesn't answer it much. He will be 2.5 next month. He always says "What that means?" when he doesn't understand something.


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## sciencemama (Nov 13, 2004)

My dd started to be able to answer some "why?" questions shortly after her 2nd birthday. I was so excited! (She made my day when I asked "Why do you want to nurse now?" and she said "Because it makes me happy!"







)
Of course, her answers don't always make a a lot of sense-- often she just repeats "what" it is she wants again.

Now she's 2.5 and she recently started asking "Why?" allllll the time.


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## stiles' mummy (Jan 16, 2005)

My ds who is 30 months old has only in the last 2 months started to ask "why?" Usually it is when he can't have something that he wants. He is not to good at answering "why" questions though.


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## karlin (Apr 8, 2004)

My son doesn't ask why very much, but he can answer it....although I don't usually just ask him why he does something. I will ask him what is wrong, and he can usually tell me now. This is something I've been working on for the past month because he went through a tantruming phase about everything. Now that I can calm him down and talk to him, we avoid the really bad tantrums...and his vocabulary has increased a lot (not more words per se, but the way he puts them together). Ds is 28 months.


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## meowmix (Jul 14, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Quagmire*
Just curious about when other toddlers understood and could answer the question "why?"

And not sure if this is a separate milestone, but when did your toddler ask "why" about things?

If your toddler is not doing these things yet, how old is s/he?

We are getting to the stage where DD understands cause and effect. For example, if she is painting and puts the paintbrush/ dobber/ etc. in her mouth, we put the paint away. If I ask her, DD why did we put the paint away she can answer "I put it in my mouth."

However she's not consistent with answering the question why, especially when it comes to her feelings. For example, she asks for a drink of water. I hand her a drink of water and she freaks out. I ask her why she's upset, or what is wrong, and she can't answer me. I ask her again what it is that she wants, and she says water, then resumes freaking out














:

I'm not sure if it's a heat of the moment thing or if she truly doesn't understand the question. Perhaps answering why won't really solve my problem but it sure would help to get an answer!









I don't remember my son in the "why" stages, but my 2.5 yr old daughter does the same thing. She can tell me why something was put away or taken away from her, but she can't usually tell me why she is feeling the way she is (unless she is hurt and crying because she fell and, say, skinned her knee). If she is generally crying and freaking out about something and I ask her why she is upset, she usually angrily screams "NOOOOOOO!" at me. I honestly think that she is just angry sometimes I would like to be angry without me trying to fix it. So she doesn't neccessarily have a reason, although something may have set her off, but she knows she wants to be mad and she doesn't want me interfering!

I haven't ever really thought to ask her why she is in a great mood, or why she is so happy so I honestly don't know if she would be able to answer that question with her feelings. She can generally tell me WHEN she is angry or that something is making her mad, but not if I ask her why in the heat of the moment.


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## Tine (Jan 12, 2005)

DS (33 mos.) just started both asking and answering "why" about 1 month ago. He understood the word "because" and the concept of cause-and-effect long before that (I'd say about 24 mos.), but for some reason, "why" was a really tricky one for him.

Now he's "why"-ing ALL the time.


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## peilover010202 (Nov 1, 2005)

ds has been asking "why?" since about 25 months old. He started answering "why?" questions at about the same time.


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## lilyka (Nov 20, 2001)

they start asking around 18-24 months. my 9 year old still can't give me a streight answer when I ask her.


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## Quagmire (Sep 27, 2005)

Thanks everyone! Very helpful to know that there's a good spread here!

Quote:


Originally Posted by *meowmix*
If she is generally crying and freaking out about something and I ask her why she is upset, she usually angrily screams "NOOOOOOO!" at me. I honestly think that she is just angry sometimes I would like to be angry without me trying to fix it. So she doesn't neccessarily have a reason, although something may have set her off, but she knows she wants to be mad and she doesn't want me interfering!

Hmm, this is a good point. My DD does the same thing sometimes. Maybe she is thinking "Butt out mom!"


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