If you're a parent, you're used to your little one asking you questions non-stop. But a new study has revealed just how often kids query their parents. On average, kids under four ask an average of 73 questions per day, some over a grueling 14-hour stretch. British researchers polled 1,500 parents across the United Kingdom and, after crunching the data, revealed that this relentless interrogation about everything you can think of leaves a third of parents exhausted, and many dashing off to their cellphones to Google the correct answer.
On the positive side, four parents in ten expressed pride at how much their little one wanted to know about the world.
The study was conducted by child psychologist Dr. Sam Wass and educational toymakers Tots Town. They discovered kids in major metropolitan areas like London could ask as many as 93 questions in a day. The study also noted that dads are more often asked questions than moms, fielding more than 400 queries per week.Dr. Wass and his team compiled a list of the most common questions kids ask, according to the U.K.-based poll:
1. Why do people die?
2. Where did I come from?
3. What is God?
4. How was I made?
5. What does “we can’t afford it” mean?
6. Is Father Christmas (Santa Claus) real?
7. Why do I have to go to school?
8. When you die who will I live with?
9. Why is the sky blue?
10. Why can’t I stay up as late as you?