Conversations to have with your kids when they get home from school.
Sometimes kids come home and are wanting to disengage. It’s been a long day and all they are wanting is to get on their iPad and play their game.
You’re excited to see your kid and you’re wanting to engage. The hard part about that is the “I’m fine” response to “how was your day”, shuts you down very quickly and ends the conversation.
What we’re looking for are more interesting questions to keep them more entertained and engaged.
Examples of questions to ask:
- When did you laugh the most today? When did you laugh the least?
- Who did you enjoy spending time with the most? Who did you enjoy spending time with the least?
- What can you do tomorrow that can make you have a better day?
- What can you do to make your friends have a better day?
- What’s something you can improve on doing tomorrow?
All these kinds of questions can be more engaging for kids when they are actually struggling to realize that they can have an impact on their day. Kids feel like their day happens to them a lot of the time.
What we’re trying to teach them in these moments is that they can also happen to their day – that they can have an impact on how their day is.
So, when you ask them who they laughed with the most, it’s teaching them to seek out those moments and to laugh with friends that they care about the most.
These conversations will hopefully have a double-whammy effect – you’re engaging with your kid a little bit more and you’re also helping your kid realize that they are in charge and get to have the kind of quality day they choose to have.
Have fun!
