Survey: Kids Ask Parents About 46 Questions A Day!

Little kids are naturally curious and while parents want to foster that, they also have to keep them safe, all while trying to answer their nonstop questions. So many questions that the average parent gets about 46 per day from their child, according to a new survey. But that doesn’t mean mom and dad know the answer, as they admit they’re clueless 35% of the time.

The poll of 2-thousand parents of kids ages six and under looks at some of the most unique interests of young children and finds:

• Little ones are fascinated by all kinds of things, from catching bugs and making little houses for them to being obsessed with the door stop or elevators and how their buttons work.
• The natural world is also very interesting to young kids, including things like rainwater, worms, the weather and “extinct fish.”
• All that curiosity leads to a lot of questions and parents say some of the strangest their kids have asked include: “If time had a smell, what would it smell like?,” “How long can a hippo run faster than an elephant?” and “Where do dreams go when we wake up?”⠀
• Parents often react by trying to find out where their kid came up with the question (52%), or by trying to find out the answer with their child (42%), or even looking up some information on their own (27%).
• Nearly all parents surveyed (91%) feel it’s important to encourage their child’s natural curiosity and interests.
• But moms and dads are still walking the line between fostering that curiosity and keeping their child safe, leading them to say “be careful” an average of 27 times a day and “don’t touch that” another 25 times daily.
• More than half (55%) follow up saying “be careful” by talking about why they said it.
• And parents second-guess themselves all the time, including 38% who admit they frequently lie awake at night worrying about how they handled things with their child and whether they understand the explanation given.
• While 61% of parents heard the phrase “because I said so” from their mom or dad growing up, only 22% regularly say it to their kids.

Source: Talker

photo: GETTY