Reporter's daughter pushes for answers

During the rush to meet my daily deadline at the newspaper, I ask questions, listen to the answers and compose stories.

My questions include the basic who, what, when, where, why, how and what happens next.

I am accustomed to asking questions at work.

But there’s someone who throws me for a loop during my off-time.

That person is my four-year-old daughter, Maria.

She’s quickly understanding more and more each day.

She carries on full-fledged conversations, rushes to answer the phone, loves to sing and dance and begs to talk on the phone to her grandparents.

Maria continues to surprise me. I don’t always know what she’s going to ask.

During the work week, though, that’s easy. She wants to know about my day.

Once she’s home, Maria likes to say “tell me about your work,” “let’s visit,” “why?” and “can you come visit after you exercise?”

These questions usually come at dinner or when I’m tucking her into bed inside her Tinkerbell-themed bedroom.

Bedtime usually works better than dinnertime for these conversations.

Maria and I talk to her dad at the same time during dinner, which makes things sort of chaotic.

I’m also trying to eat, dish up food and feed her younger brother, Luke. He’s adept at grabbing a jar of baby food when I’m not looking or if I’m too slow with the next spoonful.

When dinner is over, telling Maria about my work day starts.

After climbing up into her bunk bed and clearing her books and toys aside, we start sharing details of our day.

I usually keep descriptions on a simple level of saying how I interviewed people, took photos, called sources and wrote stories for the paper.

Any deeper explanation usually comes with a follow-up question of “why?”

Sometimes, it’s because I didn’t explain myself well enough.

Other times, she didn’t understand a certain concept or comprehend why people do what they do.

That’s OK, I don’t always have the answers either.

What’s fun now is she connects events covered in the paper to ones she attended.

One event she loves is parades and, of course, the free candy.

She’s thrilled to see parade photos or of people pitching in to pick up garbage.

When it’s her turn, I hear about her day.

Some highlights have included a special fire drill at her day care, friends she played with, a fun art project, or her version of how a classmate got into trouble.

I would say my brain gets plenty of exercise during my work day.

But after work, I’m the one answering the questions.

Day by day, Maria is teaching her impatient mom patience, which helps me explain things on her level.

She’s making me a better person, and probably, a better reporter too.

Thank you, Maria.

Lynne Lynch is the Columbia Basin Herald business and agriculture reporter. When not teaching her daughter how to interview people, she helps teach her coworkers about the life of a parent.