The question of "Why?"

Today is Stupid Question Day (I love looking up the bizarre holidays that are out there) and I thought I would discuss the ultimate stupid question: "Why?"

"Why?" isn't a hard question to answer. It seems so simple to just give a reason. However when a 14 year old decides to ask "why" there is a lot more to that question than meets the eye. When a teenager asks an adult "why", it is a challenge to the adult's authority. It is their way of getting under the parent's skin without being directly disrespectful.The common answer "Because I said so", just doesn't seem to cover everything for the teen either, they must then ask "Why?" to challenge you even more. They want to know why you said so. This usually brings about the response of "Just because", which isn't satisfying enough for the teen. Now you are getting into a power struggle at this point, and somehow the teen has figured it out. If you can't give them a "good" answer to "Why?", then you are stuck with possibly trying to explain "Why not?". Here is how the teen sees it: You can't tell me why I can't do something; therefore I can do it, if I want to. Parents can end up in a wonderful argument with the teen, until one of two things happens: The teen wins and gets their way or the parent goes to jail for murder.

When in the middle of a why-argument with Princess PITA, I truly understand why some animals eat their young. They didn't want to have to answer the question of "Why?" later on in the young's life.