The Know-it-All Stage

The Good, the Bad and How to Keep Your Sanity

By Shannon McKelden

"I know, Mom!" When your child says this because they have truly learned something new and exciting, it's wonderful to hear. But when it becomes their answer to everything, even to things they obviously don't know, it takes on a life of its own.

The "know-it-all" stage can drive parents a little bit nutty. So why do kids go through it? Are there actually benefits to being a "know-it-all"?

Who better to answer these questions than Michelle LaRowe, professional nanny and author of Nanny to the Rescue! (W Publishing Group, 2006) and Nanny to the Rescue Again! (W Publishing Group, 2006). According to LaRowe, the "know-it-all" stage usually begins when kids are in their early grade school years.

"It's a time when a child is mastering new skills and is experiencing a surge in confidence," says LaRowe, also founder and president of Boston Area Nannies. "This confidence overflows into every area of her life and she begins to believe that she has mastered all of life's skills, above and beyond what she has truly come to be proficient in. She is definitely not shy in letting you know that she has arrived – the life expert has entered the house."

Stephanie Elliott, a mother of three from Woodridge, Ill., found that this stage started even earlier – maybe as early as ages 4 or 5 – when her kids discovered they had opinions about the things around them. Elliott says, in her children, it manifests itself as "a lot of talking back or telling me they can do something (like tie a shoe or untie a difficult knot) when I clearly know at that stage they are incapable of doing the task, yet they want to do it and be a know-it-all."

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