In “The Roy Theory” I described the 3-4 year old year as “The Dictator” but I forgot about one important aspect of this stage of development. As Sugarplum comes full on into this stage, I’ve been reminded about the questioning aspect of the stage. Three year-olds are insanely curious and their entire day revolves around asking questions, questions about EVERYTHING and specifically about other people and what they are doing.
I clearly remember this phase with Honeybun and I remember the embarrassment Honeybun’s questions used to cause as during her three year-old year we constantly took public buses and trains and she was unusually LOUD! She was also an eaves dropper and used to ask questions about what people were saying on the phone or in private conversation.
Luckily, a good portion of my time with Sugarplum is spent in the car or walking with no one else around. That is, with the exception of when we walk to school pick up and people also walking to school can clearly hear Sugarplum’s incessant questioning.
Yesterday’s example (mind you we were walking about 15 feet behind another mom pushing a baby that we see daily at pick up but that we’ve not officially “met” yet):
Mommy, Why is that lady walking too?
Mommy, why does she have a baby?
Mommy, why doesn’t she go in the car line?
Does she live far away?
Why does she have green shoes like Auntie?
Does she like green?
Why does she always do that? (the mom was bending down to get something out of the bottom of the buggy while walking)
The second day of school while following a man who I later learned is the father of the boy who sits next to Honeybun at school:
Mommy, why is he wearing that silly hat?
Mommy, why is he taking his hat off?
Mommy, why doesn’t he have any hair like Grandpa?
Mommy, where is he going?
Why does he have a kid at school too?
What’s in his ears?
Why is he listening to music?
I love how curious she is and how eager she is to learn about her world. I try to answer each of her questions with a truthful response, even if that response is “I’m not sure honey” but I do have to admit after about 5 questions about the personal habits of someone I don’t know I usually default to a “Stop being so nosey, please. It’s not your job to know everything about everyone!”
