Zee is five-and-a-half, and has apparently hit the question-everything-mommy-tells-you stage. (Not to be confused with the automatically-discount-everything-your-parents-say stage that teenagers go through.) Sample conversation from the car:
Zee: "Mommy, how far away are we from Daddy's work?"
Me: "We are about five miles away from BYU Campus, Zee."
Zee: "Why?"
Me: "Why what?"
Zee (exasperated, because Mommy is too dense to understand): "Why are we five miles away?"
Me (confused): "Because...that's how far away we are. What do you mean 'why'?"
Zee (frustrated): "But Mommy, WHY are we five miles away?"
Me (very confused): "Zee, I don't understand the question. Anyway, we are now four miles away."
Zee (patiently starts over, hoping Mommy will get it this time): "Why are we four miles away, Mommy?"
Me: "ARGGGGHHH!"
Oh, it looks innocent and simple enough, but the child won't take
because as an answer, and sometimes
there isn't an answer! At least, not to the question he is asking. Or, for that matter, an answer he would understand.
Zee: "How fast are you driving, Mommy?"
Me: "35 miles an hour."
Zee: "Why can't you go faster?"
Me: "Because I would hit the cars in front of me."
Zee: "Why would you hit the cars in front of you?"
Me: "Because they are going 35 miles an hour."
Zee: "Why?"
Me: "Because that's the speed limit."
Zee: "Why?"
Me: "Because that's how fast it is safe to go on this street."
Zee: "Why?"
Me: (ignoring him for a moment)
Zee: "MOM! You aren't listening to me! MOMMY!"
So one time I tried to give him all the information I could.
Zee: "Mommy, why are our teeth white?"
Me: "Because they are made out of a mineral called apatite, and elements inside apatite bond together in such a way that they reflect all the wavelengths of light, and so your teeth look white."
Zee: "Why do they look white, Mommy?"
Me: "Well, Zee, the light reflecting off your teeth stimulates all three types of color sensitive cone cells in your eye equally, and with high brightness compared to the surroundings."
Zee: "But why are they white, Mommy?"
Me: "Because Heavenly Father made them that way, Zee."
Zee: "But why?"
Me: "I've already told you all I know, Zee. I'm not talking about this anymore."
Zee: "Why not?"
It's hard to be an active listener sometimes. You want to listen and respond to your kids, but dang! I feel for you!
ReplyDeleteI remember that stage! I'm not sure what it means, but my youngest three children didn't go through it. Probably because they were concentrating so hard on getting me to understand simple requests that we didn't have to deal with the more complicated aspects of the English language. I wonder if they'll go through it at an older age?
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I'm not the only one that deals with this. He's such a curious little boy, and I want to feed that curiosity, but good grief, I'm running out of patience some days.
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