Children's questions are important and well employed

Develop the skill of dealing with children's questions

One of the most important manifestations of linguistic development is the child's questions. If we want to start our subject with a brief idea of linguistic development, one of the most important things to point out in this regard is that linguistic development starts from the first year before the child begins speaking. This is through the mother's talk to the child, which he does not realize as explanatory words, but as a psychological dialogue and as voices that establish and encourage the skill of dialogue. s minds ", and his young mind stocks vocabulary and expressions whose contents are gradually apparent as he ages and his ability to understand has grown. Children who are subjected to this type of care are known to mature linguistically and consciously faster. It is powerful that questions' attitudes can achieve the following educational objectives:

• Enriching the child's language with vocabulary, which has a significant impact on his or her expressive ability.

• Giving him the skill of dialogue and the foundations of discussion, argument and logic.

• Enhance listening and listening skills.

• Training the child in speech ethics and good choice of appropriate words.

• Enhancing self-confidence by taking care of his questions and notifying him of acceptance and love.

• Increase knowledge and acquire important information and facts.

• Promote the son's desire to learn, explore and seek knowledge.

• Strengthen the parental relationship where his or her parents become trusted, asking them in particular, while mishandling the child's questions leads the child to turn his or her questions into others, and may involve himself or herself and become discreet who does not express himself or his or her cognitive needs.

• Support mental development and thinking ability.

It should be noted here why the word dealing is used in the title rather than answering the child's questions because the issue is not just a question that needs to be answered, but situations that need to be dealt with consciously, Includes a distinction between the types of questions the child asks and the motivation and how to transform the trans question into a valuable question and a starting point for exploration and learning, In most types of children's questions, it was better not to answer them directly.

Types of questions asked by the child:

They are mostly among the following five items:

1. Exclamation question: How can this chick jump from this high table? Mother: His weight is light. Son: And if his weight is heavy, Mother: Tell me, what could happen?

2. The philosophical question: Why does the chick have three fingers on each leg? Philosophical questions are those that do not have a specific answer and their function is to develop dialogue and logic. In response to them, the child can be asked to hypothesize, in a manner similar to brainstorming, that if he had two fingers, for example, what would the situation be like? ..".

3. Questions that ask to identify names and simple facts. This type of question has simple and specific answers that we may know and present in a simple way, or they may be unknown to us. Then we can respond: You asked me how long do chickens live and I do not know the answer? We can buy a book or research. The Internet, and in cases where we do not know the answer, it is important to answer “I don’t know” so that the child knows that admitting lack of knowledge is not a shame and that knowledge is vast, from which we know what we know and do not know a lot.

4. Questions that require complex answers: Examples include a child’s questions about religion, birth, or the like. Most children’s questions can be answered at different levels of complexity depending on the child’s age. It is important to take into account that the answer is correct and clear for the child and appropriate to his level of thinking, so the answer is given in a way that exceeds his understanding. It gives him the message that memorizing information is easier than understanding it, and giving him incorrect answers undermines his confidence and makes him doubt his mother’s credibility, and this is what happens to many mothers when asked about childbirth. The answer may be incomplete, but it should never be incorrect.

5. Questions that open the way for verification: This type of question may start from either of the two exclamatory or philosophical types. In the philosophical example: Why does the chick have three fingers? Do all birds have the same number of toes?

Children’s motivations behind the questions:

• Most of us believe that children's questions always stem from a love of curiosity and a desire for knowledge. Although this is one of the most important motives behind children's questions, there are other motives that are easy to identify through the types of questions mentioned, in addition to the following:

• Demanding attention: Hence, they do not care about the answer as much as they are keen to be the focus of attention for at least a few minutes.

The desire to have a dialogue, as one of the requirements for linguistic development. Example: The child asked his father, “Why are you standing at the traffic light?” The father said, “Because all the people are standing. If you walked, you would collide with parked cars.” The child answered:

This is not true, but you stopped because the signal was red.

In conclusion, the child’s questions are an important educational input into caring for the child linguistically, socially, mentally, and psychologically... Parents vary in their level of dealing with children’s questions, and these levels range from the first level, which hinders growth, to the fifth, which stimulates and supports growth. These levels are explained below:

First: Rejecting the question: “Don’t ask me again.”

The second: The answer is nothing more than repeating the question: Why should I eat salad, because you have to eat it?

Third: Providing information directly or saying a good question but I don’t know the answer to it.”

Fourth: Encouraging the search for information: Let us search for it on the Internet.

Fifth: Encouraging brainstorming and searching for alternative explanations for why European residents appear taller: genes, high heels, nutrition, all ideas are presented and then evaluated later.

Hence, dealing with children’s questions is a skill that we must acquire if we want to provide our children with true care, and we must expand on this with prayer, patience, and learning what we do not know about the amazing world of children’s questions. And that we feel the trustworthiness that God has placed upon us towards the development of our children. We have in the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, a good role model and his guidance in listening to questions and answering them well in a way that suits people’s understandings and levels of thinking.

Dr.. Sahar bint Abdul Latif Kurdi

Family and child counselor