Child: Why are you cleaning the table?

Me: Because it has food on it.

Child: Why?

Me: Because you just ate lunch. 

Child: Why?

Me: Because you were hungry.

Child: Why?

Me: Because your body was telling you it wanted food.

Child: Why?

Me: Because it’s been awhile since snack time.

Child: Why?

OH MY GOD!!!! It will never end unless you understand what is going with that sweet little person.

The endless whys have happened to me more times than I can recall, but the light bulb went on one day when a little boy in my class started asking me an endless series of questions. I adore this little boy, but turned around in exasperation and gave him a look with my eyebrows up and my hands out. In return, he shrugged his shoulders to his ears and gave me a bashful smile.

The simplicity of that moment blew me away. All he wanted was to talk to me but didn’t know how. Asking questions kept the conversation going.

Once I had this hunch of what was happening in these circumstances it occurred to me that toddlers and young preschoolers do not always have sophisticated conversation skills, but conversation is a fundamental NEED that these children have during this developmental stage. So whenever one of the kids started repeating themselves excessively I would jump in with narration or would start a conversation that I knew they could participate in. For example, I would start talking about their favorite book or movie, their brother or sister, their pet at home, what they ate for breakfast, etc. This stopped the questioning every single time.

It is also important to remember that children are also asking for attention when they are repetitively asking questions. As exhausting as it can be they NEED it. And it is less exhausting to talk to them than it is to get mad at them because they are annoying you. I also think that when you realize that they just want a conversation it can bring you into the moment with them. It’s a good possibility that you were busy and they did not feel acknowledged. There is nothing wrong with you for being busy or needing to get many things done it’s just the nature of children to need everything all the time. Understanding these little things helps to make them more manageable.