Channeling My Inner Toddler: A WHY-ld Ride
Have you ever had a toddler ask so many why’s that your only recourse is to say… "I don’t know why"? I never thought I’d reach that stage of parenting, but here I am, knee-deep in Gemma's full-blown WHY phase. Every new moment turns into a rabbit hole of existential questioning, starting from something simple like pants. Pants, people!
This morning, the parenting battle began over wearing pants to summer camp. Not shorts. Not a skirt. Not a flowy summer dress. Pants. Cue: "But why, Mommy, why?"
I took a deep breath, summoned all my parenting calm, and began the slow, logical descent: "Today you have lots of outdoor activities and mosquitoes will be looking for bare legs to bite."
"But why?"
"Because if your legs are bare, they have a better chance of getting to your skin."
"Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why are the mosquitoes trying to get to my legs?"
"Because they want to bite you."
"But why?"
At this point, I could feel my inner peace boarding a flight to anywhere but here. Desperate and dangerously close to a toddler-induced meltdown, I caved:
"I don’t know why, Gemma."
Her response?
"Oh, OK."
OH. OK. Are you kidding me? All this time, I could have just said that? No Socratic reasoning? No TED Talk on insect behavior? Just a simple "I don't know why"?!
I swear, I nearly had a parenting aneurysm.
But after the shock wore off, I started wondering—what's the catch? And then it hit me. Gemma’s endless whys are doing something to me. They're rewiring my brain. I’ve started asking myself more whys. Why are we doing it this way? Why not try that instead? Why have I never questioned the rule about pants before?
And you know what? As maddening as it is, I’d much rather raise curious kids who question everything than kids who simply follow without thought.
So, with a smirk, a cup of coffee, and a mildly twitching eye, I’m embracing my inner Gemma. Why? Because maybe, just maybe, the world needs more why's—and more honest mom blogs talking about it.
Love, Gemma and Jules’s mom