Any body who has been at this parenting thing for a while knows that once your child starts talking—the questions begin. And they are not always the most practical and answerable questions either. As a general rule, any parent has to be ready for a child’s questions any time, any where…
Now, just because we are ready for the questions, doesn’t mean we necessarily have all the answers. I have to admit that I’ve never been “stumped” for answers more than since I’ve had kids. They have a way of answer questions like “How do bees stay in the air?” and “Why do they only put the good stuff on one side of the bagel?” that really have found me grasping for a reasonable and honest answer. I don’t think there’s any shame in admitting that you don’t know the answer (as long as it doesn’t happen too often!)
My mother used to address my unanswerable questions with “Go look it up,” and I swore I was never going to use that line on my own children since I would get so aggravated as a child. Of course, there have been many times when I have had to look up information WITH my children in order to answer their questions. Now, one of my kids just says, “Oh, I’ll Google it” when she knows I don’t know the answer. After all, we don’t even own an encyclopedia in our family and that was my mainstay for information when I was growing up!
So, the questions come—when you least expect it—on line at the library, in the doctor’s office, while trying to have a conversation with grandparents. Expect questions about bodily functions and weather and deep existential considerations when you have the least amount of energy, brain power, and wherewithal to focus on finding suitable answers. Even after the “why, why, why?” phase of the three-year-old passes, a parent has to be ready at any second, for the question of a child…
Also: Why Daddy?