Hey there!

I used to ask my 5 year old, "Why did you do that?" when something went wrong.

The answer was always a shrug or "I don't know," because honestly, he probably didn't know either.

So I switched to asking: "What did you need?"

And suddenly, we were having real conversations. "I needed attention." "I was hungry." "I wanted to see what would happen."

When we ask better questions, we get deeper answers. And sometimes, what looks like misbehavior is just a need looking for a voice.

Worth trying next time things get messy.

Take care,

Maggie

P.S. I’ll be taking over the Winging It newsletter from Lila going forward. I’m also a mom of 3 young kids and enjoy writing about parenting with perspective, compassion, and the occasional snack bribe. 😀