The Power of 'I Don't Know' in Parenting Conversations

"Why do people hurt each other?" my seven-year-old asked after hearing about violence on the news. My instinct was to provide some neat explanation that would make sense of something senseless. Instead, I found myself saying, "I don't know, and that's something I wonder about too." Those four words—"I don't know"—opened up a conversation more meaningful than any prepared answer could have.

"I don't know" isn't a parenting failure—it's an invitation to wonder, explore, and learn together. When we embrace not knowing, we teach our children that curiosity is more valuable than certainty and that some of life's biggest questions don't have simple answers.

Discover more about honest conversations in "Unexpected Gifts of Parenting"—where not knowing becomes a doorway to deeper understanding.