'Why' is more important than 'How'

I'm reading through this book on parenting toddlers. The first chapter touched on the principle of 'why'.

Many parents (myself included) are often very fixated on the 'how' and the methods of doing things. We forgot the 'why' behind. And that causes us unnecessary stress.

For example, we are very frustrated at our toddler's behavior and we raised our voices at him. We then expect him to comply but he doesn't. In our anger, we become even louder and things still don't improve. We have missed out the 'why' part actually. If it is our intention to teach our toddler a lesson for poor behavior, there are other methods of correction besides raising voices. We can give him a time-out, put him in the cot, hold his hand firmly, etc.

Well, the fact is that the principle of 'why' applies to every aspects of life (and not just parenting). (:

Next time, ask 'why' first.