SMALL children ask a lot of questions as part of a strategy of being deliberately irritating, it has emerged.
Researchers found that under-10s did not care about the answers to their relentless queries about animals, drinks, the weather, other children’s parents, food and gravity, but rather saw the barrage of questions as a form of antagonistic sport.
Six-year-old Wayne Hayes said: “What’s a dog? Why has it got a tail? What’s a lemon? Is that a motorbike? Why has that man got a hat on?
“I’m not interested in any of these things, I just like to see adults pushed to their limits.
“What’s an adult? How long do they live? When do children become adults? What is cheese? What’s a horse? Can a horse drive a car?
“And, of course, where do babies come from? Let’s not forget that one, it’s a classic.”
Child psychologist Emma Bradshaw said: “It had been thought that ‘the questions’ were a natural consequence of innocent, childish curiosity.
“But they aren’t interested in the world, they just went to do your head in. They relish sucking your brain dry, like little brain parasites.”
Wayne Hayes added: “What’s a parasite? Is it like a parachute? Or is it like a parrot? Do parrots live in trees? Is wood from trees? Are trees a type of building?
“I can keep this going for days.”
