How To Satiate Your Kid's Curiosity Without Turning To The Internet

There are few things I loved more as a kid than research. I can specifically remember pulling out the “V” book of the early 1980s encyclopedias my parents had on a bookshelf when I wanted to learn more about volleyball. I read anything I could get my hands on, and the last few pages of the American Girl books — where it dove into the real history of the time and facts about historical events mentioned in the book — were always my favorite. I was a curious kid, and being able to turn to books (and later, the internet) to look things up felt so good.

As a parent, that joy hasn’t gone away, and I love nothing more than my three daughters coming up with questions about animals, history, hobbies, whatever, and asking me for more information. You’d think that with so much information at our fingertips now, it would be even easier to research, but the truth is, it feels harder than ever. The internet is simply not the best place for kids to find information these days. Between AI-generated summaries, published misinformation, and a deep internet well that can lead kids farther and farther from what they actually wanted to know (often ending up in a spot they aren’t ready for), many parents are blocking Google and search engines completely from kids’ devices.

There’s also the tricky “instant gratification” that so many of us parents are trying to steer our kids away from. From being able to choose the exact episode of a show they want right now to having an idea for a hobby and being able to purchase everything with one click — and have it arrive on your doorstep within hours — we seem to have lost the idea of waiting for information.

And in a world where it’s so quick to turn to our phones and get an answer — any answer — the idea of switching to more analog research ideas feels unattainable. It’s like wanting your kids to have an iPod, but realizing the technology doesn’t exist the way you want it to anymore. How do we satiate our kids’ curiosity without relying on our Amazon devices or AI or Google?

“Answer the question with more questions,” Shara Arora, executive director of two Montessori schools in Texas, tells Scary Mommy. “When kids ask a question, don’t look up the answer immediately. Instead, use open-ended questions to encourage problem-solving, like ‘What do you think?’ or ‘What do we already know about this topic?’” From there, kids can use their own critical thinking skills and imagination to wonder about the question before they ever get to researching. And when it’s time to look something up? Libraries are still available.

Go to the library.

“We’ve forgotten what an incredible resource they are,” Greer Bradshaw, an elementary school teacher for 20 years, tells Scary Mommy. “Most homes these days don’t still have encyclopedias, and ordering books off of Amazon just fuels more of that overconsumption and instant gratification thing, but the library is free and full of information. Kids can find things themselves, they can check out books, they can dive as deep as they want into any subject and come out the other side knowing they got actual facts and info they can trust.”

Bradshaw says so many people, parents and kids alike, have told her that they feel like libraries are outdated. But when you really digest some information — whether your kid wants to learn about volcanoes or the first Super Bowl — much of what you find on the internet is the basic facts you can find in any book or encyclopedia (they’ve just been loaded up with SEO keywords and chatter for better searching).

“There are so many kid-friendly nonfiction books and encyclopedias available on all sorts of topics. A few favorites include Eyewitness Encyclopedia of Everything: The Ultimate Guide to the World Around You, National Geographic Little Kids First Big Book of How, and The Fascinating Animal Book for Kids,” recommends Arora. “Physically searching through books slows kids down and makes learning feel more intentional.”

And don’t forget how important reading is, in any capacity. So much of my own knowledge of things came from what I read in books, and taking your kids to the library often to check out new books can open up a whole new level of empowerment and wisdom for them.

Find an expert at a store, museum, or center.

For kids who have an interest in something broad and specific — like what it was like to be a kid in World War II or how to take care of a guinea pig — reaching out to your actual community and finding someone who can share that information is priceless. Hit up your local museums, centers, and even clubs to see if someone can answer your kid’s questions. If your kid is curious about what all it entails to have a pet bird, head to the local pet store and ask the employees there. If your child’s interested in trains, go to a train museum near you or take a ride on one. If your family wants to know more about how your hometown came to be, your library and City Hall can be a wealth of information.

Digging for info like this can also help kids feel a bit like a detective, and there’s something so fun about digging into everything they want to know with actual places and physical items.

Remember, information can be overwhelming.

The other day, I went to hard-boil some eggs and remembered that there was some new “hack” for making perfect hard-boiled eggs. I couldn’t remember if I saw it in an Instagram reel or a Facebook post or a newsletter, so I Googled. I immediately became overwhelmed. There were millions of results for the “perfect hard-boiled egg,” and I panicked. Everyone had a different approach: Some said seven minutes, others said 10. I was about to give up when I took a breath, remembering I have at least 15 cookbooks on a shelf.

I opened up a basic one — one I received as a Christmas gift when I was a kid — and found a quick “recipe” for hard-boiled eggs. And you know what? It worked like a charm.

“This is a great example of why we don’t need to overload ourselves with information,” Bradshaw says. “It’s one thing to want to find a recipe or figure something out; it’s another to stress ourselves out thinking we have to find the best recipe or the best way to fix something.” It’s important to remember as we research, especially kids, that it’s OK to not have all of the information, as long as you’ve found what you were looking for.

And it’s OK to continue to wonder and ideate and think about answers.

If your child wants to know more about giraffes, going to the library and picking up a book about giraffes will give plenty of information. But if your kind finds themselves curious about whether or not a giraffe gets tired of eating leaves, it’s a great opportunity to continue a discussion instead of turning to AI or your Alexa device.

I know; you’re tired and overstimulated and really just want your kid to stop asking questions (and “do giraffes get tired of eating leaves” sounds like something hilarious to ask your Echo device), but this is the kind of thing kids should keep thinking about, figuring out an answer on their own. It’s a chance for them to share what they’ve learned about giraffes — their eating habits and behaviors — and how it would affect their preference for leaves or their emotional response to eating something over and over.

We want to give kids tools to figure things out, not just slide them the answers over and over. And Arora says it’s important to normalize not knowing everything. “This is the age when kids are full of questions. My kids often stump me, and I’ll say, ‘That’s a great question. I don’t have the answer, but maybe we can figure it out or learn about it together.’ This shows them that even adults don’t know everything, and that’s OK. We’re all always learning.”

Honestly, how many times have you searched for something and the answer from the internet or a TikTok or whatever is basically, “We can’t be sure, but we think it’s yadda yadda”? You know what? Kids — and adults, for that matter — can come up with their own yadda yaddas.

Do hands-on research.

For kids who want to search for how to do or fix something, Arora says it’s also vital to remember the importance of hands-on research. “Instead of looking things up right away, encourage kids to experiment, build, test ideas, and retool when something doesn’t work. It’s so much more satisfying to figure something out than to find the answer in Google.”

And for those fleeting thoughts that cross your kid’s mind when you’re away from the library or don’t have an opportunity to look in a book or watch a documentary just yet, it’s nice to just write them down in a notepad and save them for when you can give them your full attention. Because we have such quick access to info, it makes it easy to just search something immediately, read the answer, and then have it leave our brains just as quickly. By being intentional with our research and making a plan to look something up when we can give it our full attention, it can open up our minds to soak it all in a bit more... and have a more lasting impact.

Technology isn’t going away, and of course we do want our kids to be able to use it as a tool when they need it. But by finding other avenues to satiate their curiosity, we can help them be smarter with technology, too. “In our fast-paced, instant gratification world, it’s good to slow down. In fact, teaching children to research through books and experiment on their own will help them be more thoughtful and critical when using Google or AI,” says Arora.

So look up books, find documentaries, ask local experts — and never stop encouraging your child to answer their own questions. The more we can inspire our kids to dig for their info instead of reading the first AI slop summary that pops up, the more likely they are to become critical thinkers. And the world needs a lot more of those.