I always ask Bear how his day was. Sometimes, he’ll go into detail and tell me everything. Sometimes, I’ll be lucky if I get a few bits of info from him. I figured out why my approach was all wrong and Bear’s answers were so succinct – they were too easy.
if I ask, ‘How was your day?’, you’re probably going to answer with something like good, bad, or okay. If I press why it was either of the three, you might divulge. Maybe.
So, I figured it was time for me to change my approach. It’s almost the end of the school year here and I think I need to get a bit more information from Bear about his day.
I came up with 15 different questions you can ask your child. Now, it’s not to say you need to ask them all 15 questions. You might ask less than five, and call it a day. But it’s a good conversation starter on the way home from school.
Are you ready? Let’s gooooooooooo!
- What made you smile today?
- Did you give it one hundred today? (Or, did you give it your all today?)
- Who did you play with?
- What was something new you learned today?
- What was something nice you did for someone today?
- Were the other kids nice to you today?
- How did you do on your test?
- Was anyone rude to you today?
- What are you looking forward tomorrow?
- Did you eat all of your lunch? What was your favorite part?
- Was it someone’s birthday today?
- What book are you reading in class?
- Tell me something I don’t know.
- Did you laugh today? What was it?
- Did you help a friend?
These types of questions force the child to think about their day and give more than the standard, ‘it was good’ or ‘it was bad.’ Plus, you can get to know your child more without appearing to be too intrusive on their life.
What questions do you ask your child? Sound off in the comments!