Unreliable internet websites say toddlers ask 200-300 questions a day. Some are straight forward but some are real head scratchers.
This thread is to share those questions that just don’t have an answer. And the answer you gave.
I’ll go first with this gem from today:
Q: Daddy, how do boxes work?
A: The sides are all joined up and make walls to keep things you put in them safe and inside.
Context: “we don’t hit people, even if they are being not very nice”
Q: “can we hit Donald Trump?”
A: “…”
Q: What do diggers do? *100
A: What do you think diggers do?
“What do you think ____?” Had been my go to lately. Especially for questions like why do we take a bath? What would happen if I ate soap? Mommy, are you my mom?
There are times I seriously wonder if he’s trolling us.
Years ago my little cousin asked me why flowers don’t have teeth to eat bees. I think about it all the time.
some do?
because they need the bees to carry their protobabies over to the other parent?
Well now I have some reading to do…
well not teeth exactly, but some plants do eat insects, which tended to be the thing that most interested my niblings
Haha, I was fully picturing like, a big old set of chompers on a daisy!
Oh they’re the biggest trolls ever. Every time I give him a choice between two things, he flips his answer after I’ve got the original answer.
YES. I feel so seen right now.
Oh yeah I have watched Duckling knowingly troll us with a line of questioning. And then sometimes unknowingly.
@allhat drosera are some of the prettiest bug-eating plants. Then there’s trigger plants, stylidium, which whack insects on the butt to make sure they get pollen.
FB keeps advertising parenting articles to me which are better than other ads, so fine, although not a parent yet.
Today, one suggested a few ground rules for endless “why” questions:
Also suggested asking their opinion, eg what do you think happens if you eat soap? And then I’d be tempted to give permission for experimental inquiry just this once. 
Is that mean?
Seems fair except most kids at the “why” stage aren’t also verbally competent enough to do the other things 
also learning by experience with things that won’t actually hurt them? Yep.
At the wading pool yesterday:
4 year old who we see a lot: why did Toddler’s dad come?
Me: to bring us a towel
4 year old: why did he bring you a towel?
Me: to dry us off, I forgot to bring a towel with us
4 year old: why did you forget to bring a towel?
Me: I don’t know [4 year old], I don’t know.
My kid will think of three more questions while putting on his shoes or whatever and then I won’t remember the original one and that fits not bother him at all but then my brain is overflowing and I just wanted to get out the door timely dammit (and this was with already allowing them extra minutes to leave).
“Why are bananas curved? Curved like rainbows in the sky. “
Ummm wow. Really questioning the very foundations of our basic reality at 6am in the morning there buddy.
Answer:
Bananas are always bent due to a phenomenon known as negative geotropism. Once developed, instead of growing towards the ground, bananas turn towards the sun. The fruit continues growing against gravity, giving the banana its familiar curved shape.
I first learned about geotropism when I was a kid because of ladybugs. Pretty cool, kidPDM!
A bit of light morning breakfast chat:
Boy PDM: “Dad, can dogs die?”
Me: uh oh is he going to make contemplate mortality, both my own and my dogs? I mean I know in theory dogs die but not mine right? RIGHT?
Mrs PDM: “yes baby, any living thing can die”
Boy PDM:
Four year old: I used to be an egg in your tummy?
Me: yes
Four year old: and dad gave you half my code?
Me: yes
Four year old: Why?
Me: because an egg doesn’t have enough code to make a person
Four year old: But HOW did he give you his code?
Me: hmmm… that is one of the things a penis can do
Four year old: Penises are very useful aren’t they!
