What is a Stupid Question

You know how they say there are no stupid questions? Except there are and my not yet 6 year old just explained to me what makes a question a stupid one.

Here’s the story…

We were doing some schoolwork. I read him a story and then asked him a few questions about it. Why did I do that? Well, because the language development book I’m using told me to do just that. My son, who was pretty interested in the story, became distracted and uncooperative during our little Q&A. I asked him what was wrong and here’s the conversation we had:

Me: Honey, what’s wrong? You don’t seem to like this work?

Him: No, I don’t like it.

Me: Why?

Him: It’s because of the questions. They are boring and silly.

Me: Why is that?

Him: Because you already know the answers to all of them. So why are you asking me? 

Me: Why do you think I do this?

Him: You know the answer already, so you just want to test me if I know it. It is boring and silly.

Me (trying to hide my dismay): I see your point.

As serendipity would have it, I saw Beau Lotto and Amy O’Toole’s TED video later that same day. It is about science education, but I’m wondering (and this time I do NOT know the answer) if it is possible to teach math to young children through a similar play-based hands-on process without asking “stupid questions”.