Kids are natural-born philosophers, but sometimes their favorite question is more about testing your patience than it is about learning.

So, what would you do if your grandchild started asking “why?” to absolutely everything you said, without really caring about the answer?

Would you just play along? Or would you find a way to make them think before they speak?

In the following story, one grandma finds herself in this situation and creates a rule that backfires beautifully.

Here’s what happened.

No one-word questions

One of my grandchildren has reached the age where they respond with “why?” to almost anything you say.

They don’t really have a question and don’t really listen to the answer.

I want to make them use their brains a bit more and put together a real question, so I have a rule: “No one-word questions.” This led to the following exchange.

She didn’t see this coming.

The grandkid asked for a popsicle.

I told them that we’re not having treats right now.

They asked, “Why?” to which I responded, “No one-word questions!” They then smiled and yelled, “WHY, WHY, WHY?”

Wow! Well, that’s one way to use your brain.

Let’s see how the folks over at Reddit feel about all this.

This person used it as a teaching experience.

Here’s a mom who answered each question truthfully.

Here’s someone who can relate.

For this person, kids are just funny.

That was the cutest compliance! And such quick thinking for a little kid.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a rude customer who got exactly what they wanted in their pizza.