Strange question ... but how do you teach your child the meaning of WHY?

[bodiddly]

My ds is 2.11 and for some reason does not understand what why means ... if you rephrase the question he understands but just cannot seem to grasp the concept. Has anyone had experience of this or have any idea of how to drum the idea home? His language and speech seem fine it is just his one thing!

Don't... are you mental? He'll figure it out soon enough, and pester you for the next 5 years with it, too.

true .. I remember saying why, why, why, why to my mother ... and mummy, mummy, mummy, mummy ... driving her potty! just wondered whether it was about time he understood. I spend half the time trying to find ways around asking him questions without using Why?

after a reasonable explanation BECAUSE I SAY SO normally does the trick

oh dear lord no. dont tell him.

he will soon be asking "why?" every other sentance and will drive you banana's.

'why' is a fairly abstract concept about cause and effect,hence it is difficult to explain...
he is still quite young.

but you can help him get his head around the concept and the language...when you are doing stuff with him use concrete examples that refer to things he is familiar with.

eg 'this does this because blah blah...thats why we blah blah'

we wear wellies because they keep our feet dry.. thats why we wear wellies

or you could simply answer yout own questions...or ask 'is it because?'

common answer seems to be don't bother .. I can understand why! Thanks for the ideas though beansontoast I think I will give it a try.