Questions, Questions, and Questions!

Do you have a toddler, preschooler or a big kid that asks you non-stop questions? Always, every time and about everything?

© Everything Family Guide

That's good news! It tells you that your little person is very inquisitive and wants to be on top of his or her game. Never ever squash their questions! Take the time to really listen and provide open-ended answers (Minus the yes or no questions and give ones that will lead to more questions). Huh?! More questions? YES! Sometimes you may be too tired to answer him/her back or you may just want some peace or quiet. But that is where parents go wrong. By taking the time to answer those questions, you are helping your child's mind and imagination grow in leaps and bounds. This will help them in the later years of their lives (i.e. schooling, work,...). 

How should you answer the questions that your pre-schooler asks?

- Close-Ended Answers: when you give a 'yes' or 'no' or one word answers to a question, you put up an invisible barrier that says "this is the end" of questions. These kinds of answers are limited in vocabulary and provide very little insight on the topic at hand.  This signals the questioner that there is nothing left to learn about the topic or you create a frustrating road block for them. An example of a close-ended question and answer:

Q: What do whales eat?

Close-Ended A: Food

- Open-Ended Answers: when you give an answer with a sentence full of details, then you are opening a channel to further communication. This leads the questioner to believe that 'there's more to the story than meets the eye.' Which further leads to more questions in consent of more knowledge. Usually the 5W's & H (who, what, when, where, why, and how) questions are the ones that helps you create a link to the ideas of the topic. An example of an open-ended question and answer:

Q: What do whales eat?

Open-ended A: Other animals that live under water (this answer will definitely prompt more questions about the names of the prey, eating habits of whales, food chain, etc.)

What are some of the advantages of questioning?

1. It opens up your critical thinking processes where one thought leads to another, forming a new question(s). This keeps on going in the head, once our mind fully understands the concept.

2. Questions help you with forming new ideas or thoughts in your head. This is great for researching/learning about something new or going in-depth to understand more about something.

3. Asking questions will build your curiosity making you eager to learn more.

Remember to encourage questioning in your child. You can do that by modelling the questioning technique. Some great opportunities to try asking questions or to model the questioning technique are:

- During book read aloud or book sharing

- Discovering something new

- Learning a new fact

- Researching for facts 

- Brainstorming for ideas

- Interviewing someone for facts or research, and

- Many more

Remember you have the key to unlock that door....so share your wisdom generously!

Annie