I Say 'Because'...A Lot.

I always said that I wouldn't be the parent who answered 'because' to my children's questions. But sometimes, there really is not a better answer. There are just certain things I do not want to explain yet. Like this recent question that truly caught me off guard, "Mommy, why do boys and girls have to be together to make a baby?". My answer, "Because, they just do." She's 8 years old, does she really need that answered honestly yet?

My son often resorts to this word to answer my many questions for him. "Sweetie, why do you need to take apart your sandwiches before eating them?" My son calmly replies, "Because, I just do." There are many times I will dignify my children's questions with long, drawn out reasons that satisfy them. "Mommy, why do I have to clean up my room?" My answer, "Because, if you don't, Mommy can't clean the floors in your room, and then all sorts of little nasties will want to move in. You wouldn't want that, would you?" But after the hundredth time of answering the same question, with many creative answers, I sometimes just can not help myself, and it ends up being a lazy, "Because I said so." No sooner is it out of my mouth, that I regret it. I hated being told that as a child. That answer always made me feel very unimportant. It wasn't intended to do that, but it took me 30 years to figure out that sometimes, the adults in my life, just got tired of answering my many questions. And, I had a lot of questions. I still do, but now I just 'Google' it, because I can.