HOW TO TEACH YOUR CHILD WITH “I DON’T KNOW”

When you face with your children, you will know your knowledge is nothing. When you actually don’t know the answer, how to teach your child in this situation? Or sometimes know but don’t want to answer, what to do? 

Many parents don’t want to show that they don’t know when their kids ask. But properly teaching children when parents do not know will bring many outstanding benefits that parents did not expect.

HOW TO TEACH YOUR CHILD WITH THE ANSWER “I DON’T KNOW”?

Children always see their parents as idols. So, many parents always find a way to become “knowing everything” to answer all of their children’s questions.

But everyone has a lot of things that they don’t know. There’s no point hiding when you don’t know. But how to answer “I don’t know”? And how to teach your child in case you do not know indeed?

• Admit to your child that you don’t know, and then suggest them to find someone else who might have the answer. 
• Ask the children to wait. Then, you will find the proper answer for them.
• Guide your child to self-study through reliable sources.
• Explore with your child.

You can have your own better ways, but remember not to get mad at your child and say “I don’t know, why did you ask so many questions”. 

WHY “I DON’T KNOW” IS THE RIGHT TEACHING WAY?

Think about it! Is hiding ignorance the most inappropriate thing to do if you want to go further? So why are parents afraid of showing they don’t know in front of their children? 

When you tell your child you don’t know, there are four positive benefits as below:

• I will teach you that knowledge is endless, no one can know everything. Therefore, studying, learning more, learning forever is the right direction for children to develop. From there, nurture your child’s eagerness to learn.
• If you don’t know, please ask, don’t hide. Hiding ignorance will make you more and more ignorant. This teaches you to be honest.
• Parents won’t be pressured to face with questions from their children anymore. If you know, explain it to them. If you don’t know, then frankly admit that you don’t know.
• You may not believe it, but answering “I don’t know” is also a way to help your child become more confident. They’ll see that it’s not just them who doesn’t know, but their parents still don’t know. Every time I answered “I don’t know”, my daughter would ask, “Can’t you imagine I would ask that?”.

WHAT DO THE CHILDREN LEARN FROM THE DIFFERENT SOLUTIONS?

Each different solution will bring many valuable lessons to your child. Depending on the circumstances, the personality of the baby and the actual situation, parents can choose for themselves the appropriate behavior.

SUGGEST YOUR CHILDREN TO FIND CORRECT PEOPLE THAT CAN ANSWER QUESTIONS

This is an important skill I want to teach my children when answering “I don’t know”. Each person will have a different strength. Finding the right person who can help you answer is a job that requires careful thought and consideration. This is the act of analyzing, processing and synthesizing information.

For example, when my child asks me how to draw difficult details of a picture, I cannot suggest that she find a piano teacher. Or when children ask questions related to clothes, parents can guide children to find and ask people who know about clothing or fabrics, fashion depending on their questions.

Careful consideration and consideration will help your child find the right person to answer their questions. When you find the right object, you get the right knowledge and satisfy your curiosity.

WAIT FOR PARENTS TO SEARCH TOGETHER

If you are busy, you can ask your child to wait for a little later. Maybe this afternoon, tomorrow, mother and child will find out together. 

The kid will be patient to wait for answers for their questions. Patience is extremely important in your child’s development. I remember I had read somewhere that people who are able to procrastinate will be successful. 

In addition, the fact that mother and child learn together also contributes a closed relationship between mother and child.

Another important reason is that mom also helps the kid find the right answer faster and more accurately.

INSTRUCT THE CHILDREN TO FIND THE PROPER SOURCES FOR THEIR QUESTIONS

This way helps to train your children how to learn themselves. For me, books are the first priority to recommend the children to search for.

For children who already know reading, you can buy for them a dictionary. Whenever they read books and find any difficult words, they look up to understand instead of waiting for you. To be honest, sometimes, there are words that you even don’t know how to explain to your kids. The dictionary is the most efficient method.

In some particular cases, your child’s questions are related to a specific subject, you can suggest she/he to find a book mentioning about that topic to read on his own. However, you should also ask them to tell you what they have learned about. This has many meanings:

• Check if the children have found the correct answer.
• Give parents more information because indeed you also don’t know.
• Make the children interested in learning since they have a chance to present their knowledge to their parents.
• Practice the presentation skill. The child has to convey what they have learned to their parents.

ASK THE CHILDREN TO WAIT UNTIL YOU FIND THE ANSWER

There should be some questions from your children that you cannot apply above ways. Then, just talk to them that you don’t know & need time to search for the answer. You will advise them after that.

• The kids have opportunities to learn and practice the patience and wait for the answer.
• Parents have more time to look for the correct results. Then, find the best way to explain the children to make them understand easily.

You do not need to worry about how to teach your child or feel ashamed because you cannot answer their questions.

CAN I PRETEND THAT I DON’T KNOW TO TEACH THE CHILDREN?

Of course, parents can pretend that they don’t know to apply different ways to teach their children.

When you are too busy and your child keeps asking 1001 questions, instead of getting frustrated and angry with your child, you can say “I don’t know, can you wait for me 30 minutes and then we will find the answers”.

Or you want to train your child to wait patiently. Then delaying answering children’s questions is also a way to teach them properly.

If you see the benefits that can be brought from “I don’t know” and understand well how to teach your child effectively, in some cases, you also need to consider pretending not to know to teach your child.

But remember not to get upset with your children when they ask you so much. This is a signal of the good development of children. A child who asks questions frequently is a very intelligent one.

Now, are you confident enough to answer your child “I don’t know”? Don’t hesitate to miss out on many opportunities to teach your child to develop more.