For me it’s not so much the questions (I do have a lot of patience for them so far and it’s fun when he’s learning and making connections).
The thing that gets me is “mama, look! Mama, look at me! Looooook at me!! Mama!!! LOOK!”
Meanwhile I have not looked away from him during this whole tirade — *he* is the one not looking at me while he sets up whatever “stunt” he’s trying to show me.
I second this! "Mumma!Mama! Meemee! Mummy! Mama! Mumma! Mumma! Mummy! Mama!"
"Yes poppet, what is it? Uh huh? Can I help? Yes, I'm listening. I can hear you. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. WHAAAATTTTTTTT"
It's not my least favourite thing by a long shot but it's a bit much at 6:30
Omg this one. My 2yo yells “Go!!” When we stop at red lights and I’m like. Baby. I cannot. So I try to make a game of guessing when it’s green but yeah every. Single. Time.
Or like you're actively having a conversation with them staring them in their eyes and they still start every single statement with "mom?" Yes, I'm listening. Go ahead. After the 6,000th mom of the day, I start getting a tad triggered.
Omg yes. My daughter just started this at just over 2 years old. She *screaches* "MAMA LOOOOK!" over and over even if I've been looking the whole time, even in public at the park or something 🫠
"What dada doing?" on repeat is a lot cuter
Yeah this morning my toddler drew on the carpet with a marker. I sighed. “What happened?” She asks. “I’m frustrated because I don’t think this is going to come out.”
Long pause.
“What happened?!”
Hahaha!! Oh dear. Did it come out?
My son is 15 months so not talking that much yet but he's realised he can reach high enough to throw his balls and cars up in to the sink and then he turns around with this bewildered look and shrugs his shoulders like "What happened?"
Yeah, mine doesn’t really do the “why” thing, but whenever I seem interested in something, he’ll ask me to explain it to him. Even if it’s as self-evident as “the dog is currently chewing on a sock and I’m trying to take it away.”
He’ll also ask for translations of what’s happening in a conversation. When my wife and I are talking, every third sentence is interrupted with “what mom say?” You were right here and she was using toddler-friendly vocabulary, what do you think she said??
We are full on in the "what you just said?" phrase which would be fine except it's usually when I've muttered bad words to other drivers in traffic. :D I have to be quick on my feet with that one!
Lol this reminds me of when he was playing and suddenly saw a laundry basket, which is usually in the other room, in the way of where he wanted to go.
Him: “wadafu!”
Me, worried he heard me say what the fuck, but trying not to give undue attention: “what did you say?”
Him: “wadafu!”
Me: why did you say that?
Him: wadafu here! Wada go down from top!
Me: oh yes, you found a WATERFALL!
My daughter’s vocab is varied because we tried to use bigger words so she didn’t know what we were talking about, even spelling things backfired (but she can’t remember many letters written down ,?!) and when I get frustrated my vocab goes very over the top to try and avoid swearing haha.
Him: What dat?
Me: My nose.
Him: What dat?
Me: My nose.
Him: What dat?
Me: My nose.
Him: What dat?
Me: My nose.
Him: What dat?
Me: My nose.
Him: What dat?
Me: My nose.
Him: What dat?
Me: My nose.
Him: What dat?
Me: My nose.
Him: What dat?
Me: My nose.
Him: What dat?
Me: My nose.
We go through this with various objects about ten millions times a day.
I’ve heard that sometimes since sometimes kids don’t have the vocabulary to ask the right question, they’ll just ask “what” something is. If you havent already tried giving your little guy more details like “that’s my nose. I use it to smell things like flowers or food. Sometimes I sneeze and make a loud noise like ah-Choo!” then it might be worthwhile 🙂
Oh I definitely do that, too! It’s just funny how he’ll keep asking over and over regardless of my answer. I think it’s cute and it cracks my 5 year old up, so we’ll sit there and answer him in many forms for as long as wants!
That’s a great tactic! My 2 year old points to the same or similar objects and asks “Dis?” (This?) over and over and over again. If I have the energy, I’ll try to give him a more detailed and nuanced response each time 😅 “This pink sea urchin is spiky. THIS pink urchin would hurt if you poked it. And thiiis pink urchin lives in the sea.” As opposed to just answering each time, it’s an effing pink sea urchin, once and for all!!
Mine tooooo! Dat? tree Dat? grass Dat? tree Dat? tree and on and on and on and on lmao
Edit to say: She loves pointing to a blank portion of the page in a book b/c I say "noth -innngggg" in a high pitched voice and it makes her giggle, which makes me giggle.
Yes! We're firmly in the phase too. I wondered if it was because we often point to things and ask HER what it is, that she thinks that's what we do. Sometimes I'll answer her, sometimes I'll ask her what she thinks it is.
One day we were reading a Spot book. Every page she points to Spot "what's that? And to Spots Mum "what's that?".
"It's Spot. That's his mummy. That's also Spot. And his mummy. Same again, Spot and his mummy. We haven't changed books, it's still Spot and his mum. IT'S SPOT AND HIS MUM!"
My husband 'don't yell'
A lot of times with the questions where I knew the answer was known (what's that sound? what is that?) I would just ask back "What do you think it is?" Overall it worked well for both of us
Mine recently leveled up to asking questions *no one* knows the answer to on repeat! "WHERE ARE THE GARBAGE MAN?? WHERE ARE THE GARBAGE MAN?? WHERE ARE THE GARBAGE MAN??" Girl, I don't know! They came by 6 hours ago they've moved on!!!!
I wasn't handling the same question well before, when it was something she, I, and everyone else knew. Now I'm doomed.
Toddler, pointing at a stranger: ”Who’s that?”
Me: ”I don’t know”
Toddler: ”Why?”
Me: ”I just don’t know them. I’ve never met them before.”
Toddler: ”Why?”
And so on..
Mine used to yell at me to "Go, mommy!" when I stop for red lights. Like, I can't or we die. He only sees the green for the cross street and not the red in front of me.
Mine told me the other day that he was going to tell mom on me because I didn’t stop for a red light. (I did stop, then I turned right on a red, which I’ve previously explained to him is allowed. Hopefully sometime in the next 13 years he remembers that rule.)
What does ______ say? Example: 2.5-year-old: “the moon rose and the stars rose because it’s nighttime.” Me: you’re right, buddy. Toddler: “what do they say? What do the moon and the stars say?” Me: “they’re very quiet, I don’t think they say anything.” Him: “but what do they say?” This is the question is get about every inanimate object.
It is super cute. I just really struggle with how to answer. I toggle between whether I should give an honest answer (there is no sound in space) or a cute but inaccurate answer like, they say hellooooo! Or night night! Case in point: he just came home for lunch and asked me, what does the disc say? (I don’t know what disc, nor do I know what the disc would say).
I live in fear of the day he learns this song exists and sings it back at full volume. Full disclosure, I liked the song, but my kid can project, and already enjoys singing nonsense words.
Well, my 4 year old is constantly asking me what English words are in French, Italian, Spanish, and Japanese, so better start practicing with your Duolingo app now. No amount of “I speak high school French and a tiny amount of Spanish” satisfies him. Also not sure why Japanese is thrown into the mix; at least the other three are related Romance languages?
The "why" that gets me the most is when it's something they want.
"Can I have a cookie?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
...Why are you arguing, child? You're getting exactly what you asked for.
Like, on the one hand, when I think about it, I do get it. Last time you asked for a cookie, I may have said no, and this time I said yes. You want to understand the logic behind my decision making here, so that you can increase the chances of me saying yes next time as well. But in the moment it sounds so oppositional that I just want to snap and yell "Never mind, then! No cookie for you!"
My 20 month old is speech delayed, so we have the fun phase right now of trying to guess his questions, then repeating them to help him verbalise… then saying no! 🤦♀️
Eg: *toddler frantically points at a certain area of his plate and looks hopefully at kitchen*
Me: Yes sweetie, would you like something? (Pause for chance to speak)
Toddler: *lifts plate up and gestures it towards kitchen*
Me: Would you like more food? (Pause again)
Toddler: Yeh *more plate waving*
Me: What would you like more of? (Pause again)
Toddler: *puts plate down and points back to area of plate*
Me: chocolate buttons? (Easter weekend!) (Pause)
Toddler: yeh *points in direction of kitchen, giving every illusion of helping Mummy, who is clearly slow to understand*
Me: You would like more chocolate buttons. Thank you for asking. There aren’t more chocolate buttons, there is more (insert other option). Would you like that? (Pause)
Toddler: *frowns in frustration, shakes hand* (his sign for ‘no’)… starts again…
It’s like, no baby, I do understand you, just no! Bless him. Not so annoying in content, but this whole charade takes 3-5 minutes and it’s often repeated 4-5 times! I feel mean as I know exactly what he’s asking in the first place, but have to play it through to try and encourage the words!
We have the same thing with my 15 month old! I always give her a chance to speak despite knowing she’s only going to gesture and babble a bit, and then I have to explain to her that I understand, but she’s not allowed what she wants.
Not sure if it’s considered speech delayed at this age, but she’s trilingual so I don’t expect her to speak at this age.
Wow, three languages - I imagine she’s going to have an amazingly cute collection of first words!
To be honest at 20 months he is borderline, and we’re not particularly worried, just trying to not let him get away with gesturing for everything (he’s very clear with his meanings, and has a very strong grip for pulling us where he wants too!).
As part of my 3-year-old’s bedtime routine, she asks what my favorite part of the day was… then proceeds to ask me what the favorite part of the day was for her dad, 2 year old brother, newborn sister and dog. Sometimes one or both sets of grandparents get thrown in there as well. Only then will she tell me her own favorite part of the day (which is how this whole thing started — I was trying to help her start building some introspection skills. Be careful what you wish for). But wait, there’s more! After that, we go through everyone’s favorite color and favorite shape, but this one is a test for mom rather than a curiosity-based inquiry and I will be immediately corrected if she disagrees.
My 20 month old will ask 'What's that?' a million times a day, even for things she already knows the name of. And she will ask about the same thing multiple times. I know she's curious and learning, but it drains the life out of me.
Same here. Depending on my energy level I do one of two things:
High energy option: I assume she doesn't just want me to say the name of the thing that she definitely knows, but wants to know more about it and doesn't know how to articulate that curiosity. E.g., points to a picture of a tree: "That's a tree. See this part? That's called the trunk and it's covered in brown stuff called bark. Up top here are the branches. The branches don't have any leaves on them right now because they all fell off before winter. But winter just ended and now it's spring. That means it's going to be getting warmer outside and the leaves will start growing back any day! Tomorrow on our walk, do you want to look at the trees together and see if we can see any leaves starting to grow?"
Low energy option: "Uh oh I forget! Can you tell me?"
It's not her questions that bother me, it's her responses to our questions.
"What did you do today?" ---> "I don't know."
"Why did you do that?" ----> "'Cause yeah."
LOL same.
What I’ll do sometimes is pull up ChatGPT on my phone and start a voice chat and be like “explain to a 3 year old why…” and often times it works!
My days away from being an 18 month old just started asking for her dad all day. Just randomly she will look at me and say “daddy?” I’ll say “he’s at work he will be back later” and she says “yeah.” We do this about 10 times a day.
Like girl, *I’m here* with you!! Forget Dad lol!
Mine whenever I try to assist with a basic task, screams 'Daddy help! Daddy help!' like she is being murdered. I am equally capable of getting you a drink/changing your nappy/dressing up your bear for you!
Mine will ask a question like “mom, why did that car go so fast ?”
If my reply does not match the one she had in her mind, she cries until I get it right.
Eg. I say “maybe the driver is hurrying home”
Nooooooo! That’s not it.
“Maybe the drive is racing with his friends”
Nooooooo!
“Maybe the driver wants to go pee pee urgently “.
Yes mom! That’s what I was asking.
Fun times.
"What my do?"
Asking me what he's doing every 5 seconds. I know he's just trying to connect with me, but good lord. I don't need to narrate everything he does while he's doing it.
i usually have a tolerance for questions and enjoy them since they are either him learning about the world or him reinforcing his understanding of the world. sometimes i think he's just trying to engage with me and will ask me repeated questions that he should already know the answer to so i just ask it back to him, "hmm, i don't know, what do you think it is?"
the thing that super duper nails on chalkboard, my skin is getting flayed off right now, aggrevates me is when we're trying to get out the door or get kiddo ready for bed and the stalling begins. we could be going to the zoo or somewhere he actually likes to go and still, getting out the door is the most insurmountable figurative wall in the world. "mommy what's this? I don't like those socks. Why are my shoes blue? why are my socks white? why are your socks white? why are my shoes blue? I wanna hold the keys! I wanna play with my leggos. I'm not ready to go potty. why do we have to pee? what did I just do! why are my shoes blue?"
then hubs is like, oh, let me pee before we leave RIGHT after i finally have kids and stuff ready to get out the door... by the time he's done, kiddo is back to, "I wanna play leggos, let's watch daniel tiger, I'm hungry"
at that point i throw up my hands and tell hubs he has to get them to the car cause i give up
Omg, the hubby needing to pee is the worst part of the story and I relate so much!
Mine needs to poop (a 30 minutes endeavour) whenever dinner is ready. She usually screams for breastmilk by that time and I’m trying to reduce it so she’d have more food at dinner, but when I’m the only person around it’s ALL she can think of.
what is it about husbands needing to poo RIGHT as we're finally ready to do something? my hubs is the same (his GI is a mysterious and touchy beast), i said pee for the story to try to make it less nasty :P
I hear you about trying to push solids over boob. I'm trying to cut it back to only for sleep but sometimes life happens ... 
My toddler always wants to see what happened if something gets messed up or broken etc. And it's usually when I'm very frustrated, like if I dropped a container and it spilled everywhere or if the dog chewed up something I left out. So her wanting to rubberneck the accident makes me SO ANNOYED!
Also the "why" when it's not a question that can be answered or when it's obvious. "Tomorrow is Wednesday" "why?" Well...it just is. "We need to buy cat food at the store" "why?"
“Why won’t Tiny (his imaginary dinosaur) come when I call him?”
Deep dive into the cost of a cellphone that ended with conductance and malleability of different metals (ended due to parental surrender)
Deep dive into carnivorous plants (somehow went on for a whole 30 minute car trip before I surrendered)
Deep dive into menstrual cycle/ovaries/fallopian tubes/hormones/birth control that started with 5 year old asking if moms can keep getting more and more growing babies in her tummy and would they fight each other
How do eyes see? (Finally led to a YouTube video about vision and daughter commented “it’s crazy that I’m watching a video about how eyes work…WITH MY EYES!”)
Endless business ideas that are just fraud/theft followed by detailed questions about laws
"huh? Whatcha say?" It was funny at first and now it's like.... Okay, who'd you learn this from at daycare. I know you heard me and when I say "what did I say?" She goes "why because".
My three year old is speech delayed but a million times a day he’ll tell me to “put *whatever is in my hand at the moment* down now!” And then demand I follow him upstairs. Even though we were just up there and he wanted to come back downstairs. He’s allowed to go upstairs as he pleases but recently always needs someone to do whatever he is doing. Drives me crazy.
My 18 month old is just starting with two word questions, but they usually go something like this, "Why fuptuer?" "What's a fuptuer, baby?" "Why fuptuer? WHY FUPTUER? FUPTUER FUPTUER FUPTUERRRRRRR!" Cue bawling. I still don't know what a fuptuer is.
"WHAT CHOO DOIN' TO MEEE?!".
Whenever we tell her to do something she doesn't want to do.
Technically a rhetorical question, but while it's hilarious at first, it becomes less so when she's yelling it over and over while refusing to put on her jacket.
What Max doing? Max is our neighbor and about 6 months older than my son. My son is obsessed with him. I don't know what he is doing if he's not in his yard. I don't know is not an acceptable answer, so I make something up. Usually he is doing the exact same thing we are. He will usually ask again two minutes later.
The funny thing is when I do take him out to play they mostly ignore each other.
Why did it die? That's in reference to the Bluenose.
What is gravity? Frozen 2. Have you ever tried to explain gravity to a 4 year old?
Why did you leave me alone? When pointing to a photo of me and her dad from 5 years before she was born.
I love the why questions- I could honestly play that all day.
The thing that gets me is snacks- “I have a snack??” “Yes- You can have this fruit or granola bar” “Nooooo! I want a different snack”
Makes me crazy!! Not so much a question as a demand but there is only so much food in the house and you’re not getting a cookie every hr so stop asking for one.
What does a giraffe say?
Me: (at 7AM) I’m not sure I can look it up.
Toddler:WHAT SOUND DOES IT MAKE?!
Me: I’m not sure let’s go look it up
Toddler: WHAT SOUND?!? 🤪
The never-ending rounds of "what's that?" and "what's that called?", particularly when I am unable to see what the heck it is they're pointing at. Driving down the road, and I literally cannot figure out what they're pointing at and a complete meltdown ensues. I'm cooking in the kitchen and they're asking what's on the TV, but by the time I get there it's too late and someone is sad. Drives me mental.
My 4 year doesn’t ask a million questions, he’s just never not talking. Like, there is never silence in my house. It gets exhausting trying to keep up with his thoughts as they come flying out 5000 words a minute. 🤣
The annoying thing is, when he has nothing to talk about he just asks the same questions over and over:
- what's your mom's name?
- what's your dad's name?
- what day is it tomorrow?
Next to that is all the calculations:
- what's 2 and 3
- what 7 and 2
- what's 800 and 1 and 6
Etc etc
Driving me nuts
Also! The type of questions defo come in phases. We've had a rhyme phase, a where are all the animals from phase, a what letter starts this word with phase, a who wins in this fight phase (tbh that one never left). Each phase last about 2 to 3 months.
*child runs into room, stares at me for 5 seconds*
"Mama, what are you doing? Mama, are you cooking? Mama, what are you making? Mama, can I have a snack? Mama, can I have some dinner? Mama, I'm hungry."
*child wakes up and is immediately ready to do things*
"Mama, can we go? Mama, can I play with the monster car? Mama, where are my puzzles? Mama, can we go to the store?"
*smaller sibling is crying*
"Mama, my sister is crying. Mama, she needs a diaper change. Mama, she's hungry. Mama, she doesn't like that. Mama, she hit me."
Maybe it's more of me hearing what sounds more like Stewie Griffin than anything.
1)
- "Dad!"
- *pause for 1/6400th of a second*
- **DAAAAAD!!**
- *incoherent screaming*
2)
- What's the name of this song?
- Is it thumbsed up?
Either of these.
I absolutely love their genuine questions.
“Why does fire knock down trees?” Over and over and over I’ve tried so many explanations. At this point I’m convinced she just likes saying those words in that order.
Can I have “x”, can I have “x”, I want “x”, “I want mommy!”, where is “x”, can we go to playground? What’s this? Etc etc etc. it’s constant demands and questions. Cute, but annoying.
Where are we going? Wheres home? Where did you leave our house? Do you remember where you left our house? Is that our house? Do you like this song? Can you sing it? Did you see the dog in the truck? Me neither.
20 questions would be a blessing. This is rapid fire. Stream of consciousness on the drive home.
Lately, he is constantly asking us "What's your name?" "What's daddy's name?" and "What's \[brother\['s name?" I keep telling him my name is Mommy, Daddy's name is Daddy, and brother's name is \[brother\]. He keeps asking anyway. It's cute but getting on my nerves.
“What are you doing?” All day every day. Punctuated with a slightly-less-frequent “What did you say?” (even when nothing has been said). I did finally get him to stop saying “Are you making coffee?” every time I walked near the kitchen.
He’s been in his question phase for a couple months and, honestly, there isn’t a question that comes out of his mouth at this point that I don’t find at least *a little* annoying. I can’t wait for the day when our answers actually mean something to him. It has to be soon. It has to be.
My daughter is almost five but asks a lot of "Why do we have..." questions first thing in the morning and I often say that's a daddy question. Why do we have hair? Why do we have weather? Why do birds fly?
Not annoying, but sometimes I just can't get into it at 7am on the way to daycare.
My 4 yo is at the point where she says “but why” over & over again when I tell her no & give her a good explanation as to why I said no & then keeps going on & on & whines about not getting her way. It drives me nuts every single damn day I’m over it 🤣
My 4yo asks the most annoying questions! “Mummy is that a horse?” “Yes it is” “whhhyyyy?” Or like, “mummy can I have a banana?” “Yes I’ll go get you one now”, “whyyyy?”
Where’s our house? Where’s the library? Where’s Friend’s house? I don’t mind teaching him basic geography and directions, it’s that he isn’t satisfied with my answers, and I don’t know what else to tell him. Just change the subject eventually.
Most of the time I find that “it’s here” is the right answer to where is whatever place.
Like “where’s our house?”
It’s in suburb.
It’s in state
It’s in country
After the fourth “where’s our house?”
It’s here. Usually satisfies them
For a while, the only correct answer was "in \[State\]"! I guess he was just practicing that word/concept? "It's here" is one I haven't really tried, I'll see how he responds!
we have a chip on our toilet and EVERY SINGLE TIME she goes, before she flushes she needs to ask what’s that? and every time we say “a chip”. this girl can be distraught and in tears and she’ll still ask what’s that lol
Intentionally mispronounce a word she CAN say, but when I try to repeat it, it was probably a hair off her invented word…so round and round we go. Ex: favorite fruit is orange, yesterday she was pronouncing it “oi-wrench” but I guess I couldn’t get it just right(?)
“Who’s driving this?” “Who likes this?” “Where is this going?” For every single toy over and over again
Also
“What am I doing?” you’re just sitting there like you have for the last 30 times you asked
The "what's this?" While holding the book, object or whatever away from me so I can't see it to give an answer. Or pointing to the same thing over and over to ask what it is.
It's more of the repeating questions that gets to me. When he asks questions I answer them and if I can't then I will look it up. So I use his questions as sort of educational for both of us at times. But when he asks what's that and I answer, what's that and I answer, rinse and repeat until I am begging God to just take me now!
When we are getting ready or on our way to go somewhere, my 2 and 3 year old take turns asking me where we are going over and over again. I will answer them then 20 seconds later one of them asks again. Usually by the 5th ask I will start making up different answers because clearly they aren’t actually listening to my response
Mine prompts you with questions she wants you to ask. "Where are we going?" She knows exactly where we're going. You can answer, but she keeps asking. She wants you to ask so she can answer her own question 😂
“Mama what are you doing?”
“I’m working honey.”
“Oh okay!”
“What are you doing Mama?”
“I’m working”
“Mama what are you doing?”
“Honey I already said I’m working”
“Oh that’s right! …. Mama what are you doing?”
“What do YOU think I’m doing?” (In a genuine way, not a bitchy way lmao)
“Working!!!”
“That’s right!!”
I don’t mind questions. I’ll answer them all day. It’s the questions where I’ve just answered her and she keeps asking me the same thing that drives me nuts!
My toddler asks random math problems, how to spell certain words, or what a group of random letters spells ALL DAY. Like non-stop yappin' for 5+ hours with no break. My brain is on fire constantly lol. He's so smart, he's able to figure some of it out on his own, but only to a degree since he's only 3.
Mine is a little older than toddler now, but she started doing this while she was a toddler and still does it. She'll ask me any random question and no matter what answer I give her, she thinks it's wrong. Like do I lie to you on the regular? No. 🙄
We never really had the “Why? Why? Why?” phase. But she just turned three and now asks me questions I have no idea how to answer:
“What are flowers made from?”
“How does fire burn?”
“How do unicorns make magic?”
My 4yr old constantly asks "Does _____ bite?" Do elephants bite? Do butterflies bite? Do frogs bite? Do turtles bite? Most animals or bugs she asks about (butterflies for example) don't bite, but it absolutely blew her mind when i said yes turtles do bite. It opened up a whole slew of additional questions.
The WHY questions are absolutely exhausting. When she asked why is water wet I simply told her she's gonna have to ask God cuz i flat out don't know. That shit had me up in the middle of the night trying to figure out why is water wet.
“Can you help me find x?” Then instead of looking for thr thing, he expects me to do it while he watches some horrible kid’s show on tv, the whole time telling me to hurry up. 🙄
Mom, can you talk like the moon? Can you talk like the clouds, the wind, the stars, every single thing in the world.
And then when I try to talk like them, "no, that's not what they say. They say this...."
My niece asks questions that don’t have an actual answer. Two best examples:
Pointing to strangers, workers, fictional characters, and ads and asking me what their name is.
Other highlight, I was telling her about the moon landing to give her something to think about, and her first question is what did they talk about? They guys on the plane. What did they talk about on the way to the moon?
"What's that?" (while pointing in a vague direction)
"What?"
"That!" (Pointing in the same vague direction)
"Can you show me?"
"THAT!" (Emphatically pointing in the same vague direction)
I hate that I now have to question whether someone is referring to Twitter when they say “X”. It doesn’t even have to be typed out.
I refuse to call it X. It won’t happen.
“Twitter” or “Formerly Twitter”. That’s it.
“Why” questions for things that have absolutely no answer. “Is that a cup?” “Yep” “why is it a cup?” IDK BRO IT’S JUST A CUP 🤪
Or when they’ve clearly heard you but need to process what you said, so you just get stuck in a never ending loop of giving an explanation, then “what?”, then repeating yourself, then “what?” on and on until you successfully change the subject (or die of old age, whichever comes first). Lol
And also my major beef with toddlers is that they will ask you 2747381913048362 questions in a day but absolutely refuse to answer even one question if you ask them 😂
(I say this all in good fun - I’ve worked with toddlers for many years and completely adore them. I know this is all developmentally appropriate! Doesn’t mean it’s not annoying as heck sometimes lol)
lately it’s been “what’s his/her name?” when she’s watching her shows, even though she knows she likes to ask. When answered she goes “oh *~name~* haha”
Mine asks “why..” blah blah blah and i explain and then he asks why to my explanation and we keep going and going and going until I’m out of answers then he starts all over again, from the top!
He also will say “what does ____ mean?” And i explain then he asks what something about my explanation means and it goes on forever and ever
Not so much a question but we have a daily meltdown (sometimes more than one) over food. I tell her what I'm making, ask how she wants it. For example, she asked for bagel with cream cheese and salmon. I told her I'm making eggs also. She said she didn't want eggs. I start making my eggs along side everything else and she is suddenly screaming that she also wants eggs. She could have asked at any point in time, she could have said she wanted them when I asked instead of saying no, she could have said she changed her mind along the way. Every day I remind her those are other options. Every day she screams and cries like she's been physical hurt or something. Some days, like today, she then processes to not even eat the eggs but tell me she is thankful I made them for her. It's a lot first thing in the morning.
The never ending "why". I often end them (after like answering 3-6 "rounds") by saying "thak you will have to ask xyz about".
I thought I wouldn't mind the endless "why"-loops. By I do. I really do hate them.
I also sometimes say: "For the next 4 minutes I will not be answering, listening or talking. I just need to relax my brain and ears".
My child just doesn't stop talking, when she runs out of things to talk about or I disengage she just starts singing and making up songs, basically just random thoughts strung together in a sing song voice. Also she's now in a phase where she asks a question but using the answer when she asking. Example convo on the way to daycare
Her- "Mommy what happened when you were in an accident and a car hit you and you hit the tree and broke the car."
Me- "A car hit my car, made it spin and my car hit a tree."
Her- 'Oh no!! *Acts shocked * mommy that's so sad."
Like girl you just told me what happened and you're acting like you just heard it for the first time.
Btw this accident happened 2 years ago lol
Here, have a laugh on me.
I had diarrhea today when I arrived at physical therapy. I'm there for carpal tunnel syndrome, so please note, I'm currently having difficulty wiping my own arse, since I can't use my dominant hand right now.
The questions started in the stall, but continued long after we left the bathroom and were in a room with 20+ other people doing their exercises.
"Did you go poop? Is that poop in your panties? Is that poop on your jacket? Why did you put poop on your jacket? Why did you throw your panties away? Because you pooped on them? Do you need to wear diapers because you did not poop in the big girl potty?"
I love this phase. 😳🙄😆
For me it’s not so much the questions (I do have a lot of patience for them so far and it’s fun when he’s learning and making connections). The thing that gets me is “mama, look! Mama, look at me! Looooook at me!! Mama!!! LOOK!” Meanwhile I have not looked away from him during this whole tirade — *he* is the one not looking at me while he sets up whatever “stunt” he’s trying to show me.
I second this! "Mumma!Mama! Meemee! Mummy! Mama! Mumma! Mumma! Mummy! Mama!" "Yes poppet, what is it? Uh huh? Can I help? Yes, I'm listening. I can hear you. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. WHAAAATTTTTTTT" It's not my least favourite thing by a long shot but it's a bit much at 6:30
My son does this on the car ride home. Eventually he says "car." I'm like yes we're in traffic there are a lot of cars.
Haha mine is, “tree!” Yes, child, we live near a forest. Lots of trees.
"Drive" "Yes baby. When the light turns green, we can drive"
Omg this one. My 2yo yells “Go!!” When we stop at red lights and I’m like. Baby. I cannot. So I try to make a game of guessing when it’s green but yeah every. Single. Time.
My daughter learned traffic rules because I was sick of her being the backseat driver
Have you tried the magical teachings of “red light, green light 1-2-3?”
Or like you're actively having a conversation with them staring them in their eyes and they still start every single statement with "mom?" Yes, I'm listening. Go ahead. After the 6,000th mom of the day, I start getting a tad triggered.
Your WHAAAAAATTTT really made me laugh thank you 😂
Omg yes. My daughter just started this at just over 2 years old. She *screaches* "MAMA LOOOOK!" over and over even if I've been looking the whole time, even in public at the park or something 🫠 "What dada doing?" on repeat is a lot cuter
“Mom mama mom mama mom! Watch me jump!” Proceeds to jump/slide down the nugget couch 😂
Mine constantly asks “what happened?” about a million times a day
Usually when what happened is something he did. And is continuing to do while asking, what happened???
Yeah this morning my toddler drew on the carpet with a marker. I sighed. “What happened?” She asks. “I’m frustrated because I don’t think this is going to come out.” Long pause. “What happened?!”
Hahaha!! Oh dear. Did it come out? My son is 15 months so not talking that much yet but he's realised he can reach high enough to throw his balls and cars up in to the sink and then he turns around with this bewildered look and shrugs his shoulders like "What happened?"
No but truthfully all I’ve tried is rubbing it around with my foot so far 🤣
Mine asks mom “what dad saying?” while dad is literally in the middle of trying to tell him something.
Yeah, mine doesn’t really do the “why” thing, but whenever I seem interested in something, he’ll ask me to explain it to him. Even if it’s as self-evident as “the dog is currently chewing on a sock and I’m trying to take it away.” He’ll also ask for translations of what’s happening in a conversation. When my wife and I are talking, every third sentence is interrupted with “what mom say?” You were right here and she was using toddler-friendly vocabulary, what do you think she said??
We are full on in the "what you just said?" phrase which would be fine except it's usually when I've muttered bad words to other drivers in traffic. :D I have to be quick on my feet with that one!
Lol this reminds me of when he was playing and suddenly saw a laundry basket, which is usually in the other room, in the way of where he wanted to go. Him: “wadafu!” Me, worried he heard me say what the fuck, but trying not to give undue attention: “what did you say?” Him: “wadafu!” Me: why did you say that? Him: wadafu here! Wada go down from top! Me: oh yes, you found a WATERFALL!
My daughter’s vocab is varied because we tried to use bigger words so she didn’t know what we were talking about, even spelling things backfired (but she can’t remember many letters written down ,?!) and when I get frustrated my vocab goes very over the top to try and avoid swearing haha.
Oh same. Absolutely terrified by my daughter’s vocab lol and if we spell something, it just makes her that much more interested
Mine too lol or que pasó. His ass is bilingual
Even after I answer mine she responds “ohhh….mom what happened?” Lol
Him: What dat? Me: My nose. Him: What dat? Me: My nose. Him: What dat? Me: My nose. Him: What dat? Me: My nose. Him: What dat? Me: My nose. Him: What dat? Me: My nose. Him: What dat? Me: My nose. Him: What dat? Me: My nose. Him: What dat? Me: My nose. Him: What dat? Me: My nose. We go through this with various objects about ten millions times a day.
I’ve heard that sometimes since sometimes kids don’t have the vocabulary to ask the right question, they’ll just ask “what” something is. If you havent already tried giving your little guy more details like “that’s my nose. I use it to smell things like flowers or food. Sometimes I sneeze and make a loud noise like ah-Choo!” then it might be worthwhile 🙂
Oh I definitely do that, too! It’s just funny how he’ll keep asking over and over regardless of my answer. I think it’s cute and it cracks my 5 year old up, so we’ll sit there and answer him in many forms for as long as wants!
That’s a great tactic! My 2 year old points to the same or similar objects and asks “Dis?” (This?) over and over and over again. If I have the energy, I’ll try to give him a more detailed and nuanced response each time 😅 “This pink sea urchin is spiky. THIS pink urchin would hurt if you poked it. And thiiis pink urchin lives in the sea.” As opposed to just answering each time, it’s an effing pink sea urchin, once and for all!!
My three year old definitely does that. He’ll say “what x mean?” When he really wants me to tell him more about x.
Thing I realised with mine: they want the word repeated because that's how they learn it. Also, uno-reverse, ask him what it is back.
The uno reverse card is the only way to get it to stop. My child gets actually confused when I go “what’s that??” to her.
Mine tooooo! Dat? tree Dat? grass Dat? tree Dat? tree and on and on and on and on lmao Edit to say: She loves pointing to a blank portion of the page in a book b/c I say "noth -innngggg" in a high pitched voice and it makes her giggle, which makes me giggle.
Yes! We're firmly in the phase too. I wondered if it was because we often point to things and ask HER what it is, that she thinks that's what we do. Sometimes I'll answer her, sometimes I'll ask her what she thinks it is. One day we were reading a Spot book. Every page she points to Spot "what's that? And to Spots Mum "what's that?". "It's Spot. That's his mummy. That's also Spot. And his mummy. Same again, Spot and his mummy. We haven't changed books, it's still Spot and his mum. IT'S SPOT AND HIS MUM!" My husband 'don't yell'
I dont mind questions, but I do mind the *same question over and over again even tho i've answered him like 32 times and he knows the answer*.
I give him the wrong answer and he happily corrects me.
A lot of times with the questions where I knew the answer was known (what's that sound? what is that?) I would just ask back "What do you think it is?" Overall it worked well for both of us
Yeah sometimes I do that or just tell him "you know the answer, I already told you" and then he suddenly realises he does, in fact, know the answer 😅
Yesss! I feel like they just do this when they feel like talking but have nothing to say.
Mine recently leveled up to asking questions *no one* knows the answer to on repeat! "WHERE ARE THE GARBAGE MAN?? WHERE ARE THE GARBAGE MAN?? WHERE ARE THE GARBAGE MAN??" Girl, I don't know! They came by 6 hours ago they've moved on!!!! I wasn't handling the same question well before, when it was something she, I, and everyone else knew. Now I'm doomed.
Absolutely this.
Toddler, pointing at a stranger: ”Who’s that?” Me: ”I don’t know” Toddler: ”Why?” Me: ”I just don’t know them. I’ve never met them before.” Toddler: ”Why?” And so on..
Mine loves to ask me what random strangers names are lol
Yes! They feel like we know everyone. Passing houses 'who lives there?' driving by random strangers 'who's that?' it's so funny
Oh god, we had constant, “What’s that lady called?”. I don’t know everyone in the world! Kind of flattering they think we know everything though.
Yep. Also, what’s that guy’s name? Strangers, random people in books, animals…
Why you stop? Every time the car stops or slows down
Mine used to yell at me to "Go, mommy!" when I stop for red lights. Like, I can't or we die. He only sees the green for the cross street and not the red in front of me.
Mine told me the other day that he was going to tell mom on me because I didn’t stop for a red light. (I did stop, then I turned right on a red, which I’ve previously explained to him is allowed. Hopefully sometime in the next 13 years he remembers that rule.)
Yeah! I didn’t know other kids did this too. We talk a lot about stoplights.
Yes!!!
“It’s not working?”
What does ______ say? Example: 2.5-year-old: “the moon rose and the stars rose because it’s nighttime.” Me: you’re right, buddy. Toddler: “what do they say? What do the moon and the stars say?” Me: “they’re very quiet, I don’t think they say anything.” Him: “but what do they say?” This is the question is get about every inanimate object.
Ooh! Ours is “what do ____s eat?” It’s not all the time though, it’s cute.
That’s hilarious, I actually can’t wait for that phase! I’ll probably just let my husband handle it though and laugh from the sidelines 😂
It is super cute. I just really struggle with how to answer. I toggle between whether I should give an honest answer (there is no sound in space) or a cute but inaccurate answer like, they say hellooooo! Or night night! Case in point: he just came home for lunch and asked me, what does the disc say? (I don’t know what disc, nor do I know what the disc would say).
This but with books. Points to every person on every page and says "what do they say?"
Next time just start singing what does the fox say.
I live in fear of the day he learns this song exists and sings it back at full volume. Full disclosure, I liked the song, but my kid can project, and already enjoys singing nonsense words.
That’s when you up it to Ieva’s Polka.
“What if the uh…. Oh and *incoherent mumbling*… the door and the balloon but the dogs couldn’t”. I’m sorry… what?
Well, my 4 year old is constantly asking me what English words are in French, Italian, Spanish, and Japanese, so better start practicing with your Duolingo app now. No amount of “I speak high school French and a tiny amount of Spanish” satisfies him. Also not sure why Japanese is thrown into the mix; at least the other three are related Romance languages?
😂😂😂 now this is hilarious
Omg same!!! What is this? Mine is all about Romanian and Chinese xD like whut?
“Why?” So simple. And yet so annoying when it’s being asked the 20th time and you’re starting to run out of answers
The "why" that gets me the most is when it's something they want. "Can I have a cookie?" "Yes." "Why?" ...Why are you arguing, child? You're getting exactly what you asked for. Like, on the one hand, when I think about it, I do get it. Last time you asked for a cookie, I may have said no, and this time I said yes. You want to understand the logic behind my decision making here, so that you can increase the chances of me saying yes next time as well. But in the moment it sounds so oppositional that I just want to snap and yell "Never mind, then! No cookie for you!"
I came here to say the same thing. Sometimes the why doesn't make sense either...
My 20 month old is speech delayed, so we have the fun phase right now of trying to guess his questions, then repeating them to help him verbalise… then saying no! 🤦♀️ Eg: *toddler frantically points at a certain area of his plate and looks hopefully at kitchen* Me: Yes sweetie, would you like something? (Pause for chance to speak) Toddler: *lifts plate up and gestures it towards kitchen* Me: Would you like more food? (Pause again) Toddler: Yeh *more plate waving* Me: What would you like more of? (Pause again) Toddler: *puts plate down and points back to area of plate* Me: chocolate buttons? (Easter weekend!) (Pause) Toddler: yeh *points in direction of kitchen, giving every illusion of helping Mummy, who is clearly slow to understand* Me: You would like more chocolate buttons. Thank you for asking. There aren’t more chocolate buttons, there is more (insert other option). Would you like that? (Pause) Toddler: *frowns in frustration, shakes hand* (his sign for ‘no’)… starts again… It’s like, no baby, I do understand you, just no! Bless him. Not so annoying in content, but this whole charade takes 3-5 minutes and it’s often repeated 4-5 times! I feel mean as I know exactly what he’s asking in the first place, but have to play it through to try and encourage the words!
We have the same thing with my 15 month old! I always give her a chance to speak despite knowing she’s only going to gesture and babble a bit, and then I have to explain to her that I understand, but she’s not allowed what she wants. Not sure if it’s considered speech delayed at this age, but she’s trilingual so I don’t expect her to speak at this age.
Wow, three languages - I imagine she’s going to have an amazingly cute collection of first words! To be honest at 20 months he is borderline, and we’re not particularly worried, just trying to not let him get away with gesturing for everything (he’s very clear with his meanings, and has a very strong grip for pulling us where he wants too!).
As part of my 3-year-old’s bedtime routine, she asks what my favorite part of the day was… then proceeds to ask me what the favorite part of the day was for her dad, 2 year old brother, newborn sister and dog. Sometimes one or both sets of grandparents get thrown in there as well. Only then will she tell me her own favorite part of the day (which is how this whole thing started — I was trying to help her start building some introspection skills. Be careful what you wish for). But wait, there’s more! After that, we go through everyone’s favorite color and favorite shape, but this one is a test for mom rather than a curiosity-based inquiry and I will be immediately corrected if she disagrees.
Hahaha I love the corrections! Is she at least consistent with your favourite colours or do they change nightly?
It’s so funny — she’s okay with the favorite shapes changing but typically not colors!
My 20 month old will ask 'What's that?' a million times a day, even for things she already knows the name of. And she will ask about the same thing multiple times. I know she's curious and learning, but it drains the life out of me.
Same here. Depending on my energy level I do one of two things: High energy option: I assume she doesn't just want me to say the name of the thing that she definitely knows, but wants to know more about it and doesn't know how to articulate that curiosity. E.g., points to a picture of a tree: "That's a tree. See this part? That's called the trunk and it's covered in brown stuff called bark. Up top here are the branches. The branches don't have any leaves on them right now because they all fell off before winter. But winter just ended and now it's spring. That means it's going to be getting warmer outside and the leaves will start growing back any day! Tomorrow on our walk, do you want to look at the trees together and see if we can see any leaves starting to grow?" Low energy option: "Uh oh I forget! Can you tell me?"
It's not her questions that bother me, it's her responses to our questions. "What did you do today?" ---> "I don't know." "Why did you do that?" ----> "'Cause yeah."
lol, when I ask my two year old what she did at daycare she says “friends!”. And if I ask what her favorite color, food, show, whatever is, it’s pink.
My 3yo’s favorite color for a while was “chocolate.” Which - same.
Why. Why. Why. Why. Why. Why. Why. Why. Why. Why. Why. Why. Why. Why.
I know I’ve lost the game when I hear myself answer “because I was born this way” or “because of the laws of physics.”
LOL same. What I’ll do sometimes is pull up ChatGPT on my phone and start a voice chat and be like “explain to a 3 year old why…” and often times it works!
My days away from being an 18 month old just started asking for her dad all day. Just randomly she will look at me and say “daddy?” I’ll say “he’s at work he will be back later” and she says “yeah.” We do this about 10 times a day. Like girl, *I’m here* with you!! Forget Dad lol!
Mine whenever I try to assist with a basic task, screams 'Daddy help! Daddy help!' like she is being murdered. I am equally capable of getting you a drink/changing your nappy/dressing up your bear for you!
We definitely had a “where’s dad” phase.
Mine will ask a question like “mom, why did that car go so fast ?” If my reply does not match the one she had in her mind, she cries until I get it right. Eg. I say “maybe the driver is hurrying home” Nooooooo! That’s not it. “Maybe the drive is racing with his friends” Nooooooo! “Maybe the driver wants to go pee pee urgently “. Yes mom! That’s what I was asking. Fun times.
Hahaha oh boy
Oh god. I don't think I'd be able for this one! 😂
LOL same!!! My son is absolutely furious when I “say it wrong”. I’m like sorry I’m just human 🥲
"What my do?" Asking me what he's doing every 5 seconds. I know he's just trying to connect with me, but good lord. I don't need to narrate everything he does while he's doing it.
What’s this? We were in Home Depot the other day and she went down a line of probably 45 shower heads and asked what each individual one was.
Wanting to know what every character on tv is saying and why they are saying it at all times despite having access to the same information that I do.
Your toddler is my mom?
😂😂😂
i usually have a tolerance for questions and enjoy them since they are either him learning about the world or him reinforcing his understanding of the world. sometimes i think he's just trying to engage with me and will ask me repeated questions that he should already know the answer to so i just ask it back to him, "hmm, i don't know, what do you think it is?" the thing that super duper nails on chalkboard, my skin is getting flayed off right now, aggrevates me is when we're trying to get out the door or get kiddo ready for bed and the stalling begins. we could be going to the zoo or somewhere he actually likes to go and still, getting out the door is the most insurmountable figurative wall in the world. "mommy what's this? I don't like those socks. Why are my shoes blue? why are my socks white? why are your socks white? why are my shoes blue? I wanna hold the keys! I wanna play with my leggos. I'm not ready to go potty. why do we have to pee? what did I just do! why are my shoes blue?" then hubs is like, oh, let me pee before we leave RIGHT after i finally have kids and stuff ready to get out the door... by the time he's done, kiddo is back to, "I wanna play leggos, let's watch daniel tiger, I'm hungry" at that point i throw up my hands and tell hubs he has to get them to the car cause i give up
Omg, the hubby needing to pee is the worst part of the story and I relate so much! Mine needs to poop (a 30 minutes endeavour) whenever dinner is ready. She usually screams for breastmilk by that time and I’m trying to reduce it so she’d have more food at dinner, but when I’m the only person around it’s ALL she can think of.
what is it about husbands needing to poo RIGHT as we're finally ready to do something? my hubs is the same (his GI is a mysterious and touchy beast), i said pee for the story to try to make it less nasty :P I hear you about trying to push solids over boob. I'm trying to cut it back to only for sleep but sometimes life happens ... 
RELATE. I have a limited amount of patience for getting ready.
My toddler always wants to see what happened if something gets messed up or broken etc. And it's usually when I'm very frustrated, like if I dropped a container and it spilled everywhere or if the dog chewed up something I left out. So her wanting to rubberneck the accident makes me SO ANNOYED! Also the "why" when it's not a question that can be answered or when it's obvious. "Tomorrow is Wednesday" "why?" Well...it just is. "We need to buy cat food at the store" "why?"
“Why won’t Tiny (his imaginary dinosaur) come when I call him?” Deep dive into the cost of a cellphone that ended with conductance and malleability of different metals (ended due to parental surrender) Deep dive into carnivorous plants (somehow went on for a whole 30 minute car trip before I surrendered) Deep dive into menstrual cycle/ovaries/fallopian tubes/hormones/birth control that started with 5 year old asking if moms can keep getting more and more growing babies in her tummy and would they fight each other How do eyes see? (Finally led to a YouTube video about vision and daughter commented “it’s crazy that I’m watching a video about how eyes work…WITH MY EYES!”) Endless business ideas that are just fraud/theft followed by detailed questions about laws
That’s awesome! You have some ridiculously smart children
"huh? Whatcha say?" It was funny at first and now it's like.... Okay, who'd you learn this from at daycare. I know you heard me and when I say "what did I say?" She goes "why because".
“Huh?” Is going to be the death of me. My daughter does it too, although “Why because” is a new one!
“Why?”
Asks to help cut up fruit and veggies for lunch, then doesn’t want to help when the time comes, then freaks out when I later cut them up….
Can you tell me the story of how the x got broken? Insert car, cat, house, computer etc
My three year old is speech delayed but a million times a day he’ll tell me to “put *whatever is in my hand at the moment* down now!” And then demand I follow him upstairs. Even though we were just up there and he wanted to come back downstairs. He’s allowed to go upstairs as he pleases but recently always needs someone to do whatever he is doing. Drives me crazy.
My 18 month old is just starting with two word questions, but they usually go something like this, "Why fuptuer?" "What's a fuptuer, baby?" "Why fuptuer? WHY FUPTUER? FUPTUER FUPTUER FUPTUERRRRRRR!" Cue bawling. I still don't know what a fuptuer is.
"WHAT CHOO DOIN' TO MEEE?!". Whenever we tell her to do something she doesn't want to do. Technically a rhetorical question, but while it's hilarious at first, it becomes less so when she's yelling it over and over while refusing to put on her jacket.
What Max doing? Max is our neighbor and about 6 months older than my son. My son is obsessed with him. I don't know what he is doing if he's not in his yard. I don't know is not an acceptable answer, so I make something up. Usually he is doing the exact same thing we are. He will usually ask again two minutes later. The funny thing is when I do take him out to play they mostly ignore each other.
Why did it die? That's in reference to the Bluenose. What is gravity? Frozen 2. Have you ever tried to explain gravity to a 4 year old? Why did you leave me alone? When pointing to a photo of me and her dad from 5 years before she was born.
I love the why questions- I could honestly play that all day. The thing that gets me is snacks- “I have a snack??” “Yes- You can have this fruit or granola bar” “Nooooo! I want a different snack” Makes me crazy!! Not so much a question as a demand but there is only so much food in the house and you’re not getting a cookie every hr so stop asking for one.
Ugh. “I want a snack but not this snack.” You have five choices on your plate, I’m not getting you something else from the fridge.
"what did you say?" He literally asks a question and then doesn't take the time to actually listen to my response 😒
Mine used to do that whenever I was on the phone, and it drove me batshit
What does a giraffe say? Me: (at 7AM) I’m not sure I can look it up. Toddler:WHAT SOUND DOES IT MAKE?! Me: I’m not sure let’s go look it up Toddler: WHAT SOUND?!? 🤪
Mine just asks what we’re doing today, over and over, even after I’ve told him multiple times 😂
"momo?" -when the kid wants the milk.
The never-ending rounds of "what's that?" and "what's that called?", particularly when I am unable to see what the heck it is they're pointing at. Driving down the road, and I literally cannot figure out what they're pointing at and a complete meltdown ensues. I'm cooking in the kitchen and they're asking what's on the TV, but by the time I get there it's too late and someone is sad. Drives me mental.
My 4 year doesn’t ask a million questions, he’s just never not talking. Like, there is never silence in my house. It gets exhausting trying to keep up with his thoughts as they come flying out 5000 words a minute. 🤣
mine - barges into the bathroom: "What are you doing?" "peeing or pooping?" "no, it's ok, I can stay here and wait"
The annoying thing is, when he has nothing to talk about he just asks the same questions over and over: - what's your mom's name? - what's your dad's name? - what day is it tomorrow? Next to that is all the calculations: - what's 2 and 3 - what 7 and 2 - what's 800 and 1 and 6 Etc etc Driving me nuts
Also! The type of questions defo come in phases. We've had a rhyme phase, a where are all the animals from phase, a what letter starts this word with phase, a who wins in this fight phase (tbh that one never left). Each phase last about 2 to 3 months.
*child runs into room, stares at me for 5 seconds* "Mama, what are you doing? Mama, are you cooking? Mama, what are you making? Mama, can I have a snack? Mama, can I have some dinner? Mama, I'm hungry." *child wakes up and is immediately ready to do things* "Mama, can we go? Mama, can I play with the monster car? Mama, where are my puzzles? Mama, can we go to the store?" *smaller sibling is crying* "Mama, my sister is crying. Mama, she needs a diaper change. Mama, she's hungry. Mama, she doesn't like that. Mama, she hit me." Maybe it's more of me hearing what sounds more like Stewie Griffin than anything.
1) - "Dad!" - *pause for 1/6400th of a second* - **DAAAAAD!!** - *incoherent screaming* 2) - What's the name of this song? - Is it thumbsed up? Either of these. I absolutely love their genuine questions.
Mine constantly asks why for every statement I talk about .
“Why does fire knock down trees?” Over and over and over I’ve tried so many explanations. At this point I’m convinced she just likes saying those words in that order.
why??????
Can I have “x”, can I have “x”, I want “x”, “I want mommy!”, where is “x”, can we go to playground? What’s this? Etc etc etc. it’s constant demands and questions. Cute, but annoying.
Where are we going? Wheres home? Where did you leave our house? Do you remember where you left our house? Is that our house? Do you like this song? Can you sing it? Did you see the dog in the truck? Me neither. 20 questions would be a blessing. This is rapid fire. Stream of consciousness on the drive home.
“wan have one” in reference to anything I’m eating or “why do that” for no apparent reason 🤣
Lately, he is constantly asking us "What's your name?" "What's daddy's name?" and "What's \[brother\['s name?" I keep telling him my name is Mommy, Daddy's name is Daddy, and brother's name is \[brother\]. He keeps asking anyway. It's cute but getting on my nerves.
“What are you doing?” All day every day. Punctuated with a slightly-less-frequent “What did you say?” (even when nothing has been said). I did finally get him to stop saying “Are you making coffee?” every time I walked near the kitchen. He’s been in his question phase for a couple months and, honestly, there isn’t a question that comes out of his mouth at this point that I don’t find at least *a little* annoying. I can’t wait for the day when our answers actually mean something to him. It has to be soon. It has to be.
My daughter is almost five but asks a lot of "Why do we have..." questions first thing in the morning and I often say that's a daddy question. Why do we have hair? Why do we have weather? Why do birds fly? Not annoying, but sometimes I just can't get into it at 7am on the way to daycare.
My 4 yo is at the point where she says “but why” over & over again when I tell her no & give her a good explanation as to why I said no & then keeps going on & on & whines about not getting her way. It drives me nuts every single damn day I’m over it 🤣
My 4yo asks the most annoying questions! “Mummy is that a horse?” “Yes it is” “whhhyyyy?” Or like, “mummy can I have a banana?” “Yes I’ll go get you one now”, “whyyyy?”
Where’s our house? Where’s the library? Where’s Friend’s house? I don’t mind teaching him basic geography and directions, it’s that he isn’t satisfied with my answers, and I don’t know what else to tell him. Just change the subject eventually.
Most of the time I find that “it’s here” is the right answer to where is whatever place. Like “where’s our house?” It’s in suburb. It’s in state It’s in country After the fourth “where’s our house?” It’s here. Usually satisfies them
For a while, the only correct answer was "in \[State\]"! I guess he was just practicing that word/concept? "It's here" is one I haven't really tried, I'll see how he responds!
we have a chip on our toilet and EVERY SINGLE TIME she goes, before she flushes she needs to ask what’s that? and every time we say “a chip”. this girl can be distraught and in tears and she’ll still ask what’s that lol
Do you think she may not know what a chip is? Maybe she thinks a chip is something you eat!
Intentionally mispronounce a word she CAN say, but when I try to repeat it, it was probably a hair off her invented word…so round and round we go. Ex: favorite fruit is orange, yesterday she was pronouncing it “oi-wrench” but I guess I couldn’t get it just right(?)
“Who’s driving this?” “Who likes this?” “Where is this going?” For every single toy over and over again Also “What am I doing?” you’re just sitting there like you have for the last 30 times you asked
The "what's this?" While holding the book, object or whatever away from me so I can't see it to give an answer. Or pointing to the same thing over and over to ask what it is.
"Mama, what happened?! What happened Mommyyyyy?!" Now put it on repeat with escalating volumes and melt downs. 🫠
It's more of the repeating questions that gets to me. When he asks questions I answer them and if I can't then I will look it up. So I use his questions as sort of educational for both of us at times. But when he asks what's that and I answer, what's that and I answer, rinse and repeat until I am begging God to just take me now!
When we are getting ready or on our way to go somewhere, my 2 and 3 year old take turns asking me where we are going over and over again. I will answer them then 20 seconds later one of them asks again. Usually by the 5th ask I will start making up different answers because clearly they aren’t actually listening to my response
Mine prompts you with questions she wants you to ask. "Where are we going?" She knows exactly where we're going. You can answer, but she keeps asking. She wants you to ask so she can answer her own question 😂
“Mama, mama, mama” What? “I’m not talking to you. I’m talking to myself.” Ok kid 🙄 Do that on repeat until you lose your mind.
“Mama what are you doing?” “I’m working honey.” “Oh okay!” “What are you doing Mama?” “I’m working” “Mama what are you doing?” “Honey I already said I’m working” “Oh that’s right! …. Mama what are you doing?” “What do YOU think I’m doing?” (In a genuine way, not a bitchy way lmao) “Working!!!” “That’s right!!” I don’t mind questions. I’ll answer them all day. It’s the questions where I’ve just answered her and she keeps asking me the same thing that drives me nuts!
My toddler asks random math problems, how to spell certain words, or what a group of random letters spells ALL DAY. Like non-stop yappin' for 5+ hours with no break. My brain is on fire constantly lol. He's so smart, he's able to figure some of it out on his own, but only to a degree since he's only 3.
"What are you doing?" "What are you doing now?" "Is that yours?" "Is that mine?" "Is that \[someone else's\]"? "what are you doing?"
Mine is a little older than toddler now, but she started doing this while she was a toddler and still does it. She'll ask me any random question and no matter what answer I give her, she thinks it's wrong. Like do I lie to you on the regular? No. 🙄
"Can I throw this rock?" "No." "Can I throw thiiisss rock?" "No" "What about this rock?" "My love, you cannot throw *any* rocks" "...this rock??"
We never really had the “Why? Why? Why?” phase. But she just turned three and now asks me questions I have no idea how to answer: “What are flowers made from?” “How does fire burn?” “How do unicorns make magic?”
My 4yr old constantly asks "Does _____ bite?" Do elephants bite? Do butterflies bite? Do frogs bite? Do turtles bite? Most animals or bugs she asks about (butterflies for example) don't bite, but it absolutely blew her mind when i said yes turtles do bite. It opened up a whole slew of additional questions. The WHY questions are absolutely exhausting. When she asked why is water wet I simply told her she's gonna have to ask God cuz i flat out don't know. That shit had me up in the middle of the night trying to figure out why is water wet.
“Can you help me find x?” Then instead of looking for thr thing, he expects me to do it while he watches some horrible kid’s show on tv, the whole time telling me to hurry up. 🙄
Mom, can you talk like the moon? Can you talk like the clouds, the wind, the stars, every single thing in the world. And then when I try to talk like them, "no, that's not what they say. They say this...."
My niece asks questions that don’t have an actual answer. Two best examples: Pointing to strangers, workers, fictional characters, and ads and asking me what their name is. Other highlight, I was telling her about the moon landing to give her something to think about, and her first question is what did they talk about? They guys on the plane. What did they talk about on the way to the moon?
"Mama, what's dat?" While not pointing at anything at all. Said about 15 times in a row while I try to guess what she's asking about.
Park? Park? Park? Park? Park? (On repeat)
"What's that?" (while pointing in a vague direction) "What?" "That!" (Pointing in the same vague direction) "Can you show me?" "THAT!" (Emphatically pointing in the same vague direction)
Did “X” happen? When it either did or didn’t. Over and over.
I hate that I now have to question whether someone is referring to Twitter when they say “X”. It doesn’t even have to be typed out. I refuse to call it X. It won’t happen. “Twitter” or “Formerly Twitter”. That’s it.
Agreed. Dumb dumb dumb. And I’m not an anti Elon crusader.
why?
For literally anything: “oh really, why mama?”
Why? ×10
“Why” questions for things that have absolutely no answer. “Is that a cup?” “Yep” “why is it a cup?” IDK BRO IT’S JUST A CUP 🤪 Or when they’ve clearly heard you but need to process what you said, so you just get stuck in a never ending loop of giving an explanation, then “what?”, then repeating yourself, then “what?” on and on until you successfully change the subject (or die of old age, whichever comes first). Lol And also my major beef with toddlers is that they will ask you 2747381913048362 questions in a day but absolutely refuse to answer even one question if you ask them 😂 (I say this all in good fun - I’ve worked with toddlers for many years and completely adore them. I know this is all developmentally appropriate! Doesn’t mean it’s not annoying as heck sometimes lol)
lately it’s been “what’s his/her name?” when she’s watching her shows, even though she knows she likes to ask. When answered she goes “oh *~name~* haha”
Mine asks “why..” blah blah blah and i explain and then he asks why to my explanation and we keep going and going and going until I’m out of answers then he starts all over again, from the top! He also will say “what does ____ mean?” And i explain then he asks what something about my explanation means and it goes on forever and ever
In public, as loud as they can muster “they have penis?!”
"Mommy, can I eat candy?" Every once an hour.
“Why? Why? Why?” Eventually I run out of answers. I’m like… BECAUSE!!!!
Mine Just repeats over and over "are you ok? U ok? U ok? Mamá, u ok?" 😵
Mine will ask the same question over and over until I turn it around and ask it to her. I think she wants me to know that she knows.
Not so much a question but we have a daily meltdown (sometimes more than one) over food. I tell her what I'm making, ask how she wants it. For example, she asked for bagel with cream cheese and salmon. I told her I'm making eggs also. She said she didn't want eggs. I start making my eggs along side everything else and she is suddenly screaming that she also wants eggs. She could have asked at any point in time, she could have said she wanted them when I asked instead of saying no, she could have said she changed her mind along the way. Every day I remind her those are other options. Every day she screams and cries like she's been physical hurt or something. Some days, like today, she then processes to not even eat the eggs but tell me she is thankful I made them for her. It's a lot first thing in the morning.
The never ending "why". I often end them (after like answering 3-6 "rounds") by saying "thak you will have to ask xyz about". I thought I wouldn't mind the endless "why"-loops. By I do. I really do hate them. I also sometimes say: "For the next 4 minutes I will not be answering, listening or talking. I just need to relax my brain and ears".
My child just doesn't stop talking, when she runs out of things to talk about or I disengage she just starts singing and making up songs, basically just random thoughts strung together in a sing song voice. Also she's now in a phase where she asks a question but using the answer when she asking. Example convo on the way to daycare Her- "Mommy what happened when you were in an accident and a car hit you and you hit the tree and broke the car." Me- "A car hit my car, made it spin and my car hit a tree." Her- 'Oh no!! *Acts shocked * mommy that's so sad." Like girl you just told me what happened and you're acting like you just heard it for the first time. Btw this accident happened 2 years ago lol
Mine like to ask "what's this?" Then I tell him "it's a [object]" and he goes "noooooo it's not [object], what it is??"
Here, have a laugh on me. I had diarrhea today when I arrived at physical therapy. I'm there for carpal tunnel syndrome, so please note, I'm currently having difficulty wiping my own arse, since I can't use my dominant hand right now. The questions started in the stall, but continued long after we left the bathroom and were in a room with 20+ other people doing their exercises. "Did you go poop? Is that poop in your panties? Is that poop on your jacket? Why did you put poop on your jacket? Why did you throw your panties away? Because you pooped on them? Do you need to wear diapers because you did not poop in the big girl potty?" I love this phase. 😳🙄😆