Lately, my least favorite letter of the alphabet is the letter Y. Why? Because it is my son’s favorite.
It seems like everything I say is met with the question: “Why?” Typical for a three-year-old, and sometimes it’s agony.
This phase is cute in its own way, but I can’t wait for it to end. Until that day comes, I’ve started a new game. Sometimes the game is to see how many times I can get him to ask me why. Sometimes I try to come up with something clever that gets him to stop asking. Then, of course, I occasionally pepper him with my own series of “whys” to see how far I can go. I call it the Y Game.
It’s a great pass-time in the car. We can Y about anything. “Why is that man walking?” “Why is the sun in my eyes?” “Why are you driving?” Yes. These questions are mundane. So are my answers when I want the game to carry on. “He’s walking because he’s not in a car.” “The sun is setting.” “We need to get to the store without walking.” This then spawns a whole new round of the Y Game. “Why isn’t he in the car?” “Why is it setting?” “Why do we need to get to the store?”
At other times, like when I’m on the toilet and my son barges in, this game isn’t fun. It’s also not always fun at dinner (sometimes, but not always). During a recent dinner, I told my son to keep eating his meal. He refused. I told him there were people in Haiti right now who would be very grateful for his half cup of pasta and sauce.
“Why?”
“Because they don’t even have enough water to drink, let alone boil spaghetti.”
“Why?”
“Because an earthquake devastated their infrastructure and collapsed most of their buildings, so it is hard to find potable water. The sad irony is that they live on an island surrounded by water that they cannot drink.” (See message below)
“Oh.”
That did it. I won. Well, at least, to me it’s winning. I judge winning by my goal at the outset of the game, but I wonder if it’s fair to say I win when my son doesn’t even know he’s playing.
Of course, my wife chimes in and says I’m being ridiculous because I can’t expect him to know what I’m talking about. She’s right. I’m being ridiculous, but it’s my game, and my rules. And the Y Game isn’t going away until the Why Stage does.
The earthquake in Haiti is one of the saddest natural disasters I’ve seen in my lifetime. If you haven’t done this yet, text “haiti” to 90999 and $10 will be donated to the Red Cross (@RedCross) to help relief efforts. If you’ve ever overspent in texting or downloaded four ringtones in a month, you can afford to make this donation.
