A CHILD'S "WHY?"

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · May 27, 1889

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 15, No. 20.

PROFESSOR PREYER, in his book on "The Development of the Intellect," which is based on careful observations of the mental growth of his son and of other children, shows how a child's persistent inquisitiveness may be put to good use. He says:—

The child's questioning as a means of his culture is almost universally underrated. The interest in causality that unfolds itself more and more vigorously with the learning of speech, the asking why, which is often almost unendurable to parents and educators, is fully justified, and ought not, as, unfortunately, is too often the case, to be unheeded, purposely left unanswered, purposely answered falsely. I have, from the beginning, given to my boy, to the best of my knowledge, invariably an answer to his questions, intelligible to him, and not contrary to truth, and have noticed that in consequence, at a later period, in the fifth and the sixth, and especially in the seventh year, the questions prove to be more and more intelligent, because the previous answers are retained. If, on the contrary, we do not answer at all, or if we answer with jests and false tales, it is not to be wondered at that a child, even of superior endowments, puts foolish and absurd questions, and thinks illogically—a thing that rarely occurs where questions are rightly answered, and fitting instruction is given, to say nothing of rearing the child to superstition.