toddler questions

DYJ: Answer the Question

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I’m pretty sure it has been scientifically proven that toddlers are devils – selfish, loud, messy, moody, lovable devils. And they do lots of things that adults consistently wish they could.

But, they do one thing that many adults have a hard time doing. It’s a simple thing. Super simple actually.

They answer questions.

Now, I am only speaking for my child, who is a little over a year and half, so her language skills are still developing, and she can’t  really talk. She says words, understands everything, but can only answer questions with a “no” or a “yes”/full-body-nod. Usually her answers are contradictory or in the case of, “do you have poop?”, wrong more than half the time.

But that’s beside the point. The point is, she answers concisely. No fluff. No extraneous words, verbs, adjectives, or nonsense.

I can’t tell you how many times I have asked an adult a question, and instead of getting the short answer I wanted, they decided to circumvent the answer or bury it so deep in needless babble that rather than actually listening to them I was simply annoyed the entire time just waiting to hear what I really wanted to hear, like the answer to my original question.

Who knows why adults do this? I’m sure I’ve even done it. Perhaps it’s to prove that we know what we’re talking about and prove our worth. Other times it might be to protect our asses and justify actions that might have been unnecessary. Half the time it’s probably because we don’t actually know the answer and rather than simply saying, “I don’t know,” we try and mask our ignorance.

There are lots of things I want to teach Isabel. One of them will be comfortable saying, “I don’t know, but I’ll find out,” rather than taking a circuitous route to the same thing. Another will be simply answering the question being asked.

I know her future employers will appreciate it  – and who knows, maybe even reward her for it.

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