Getting a child of any age to fill you in on their day at school can be a tough job. By simply asking “How was school?” “What happened at school today?” “What did you learn?” etc; you’re overloading their brains with all the possible responses and the only things that tend to come out are “good, it was fine, I don’t remember or I don’t know”. Leaving you to remain in the unknown about what’s happened that day. Below, we’ve created a list of simple questions to ask your child every night at the dinner table. These are questions that encourage followup questions and create a full dialogue between parents and children.
Questions To Ask Your Kids About School
Start off by having everyone begin the tradition of going around the table and stating the peak and the pit of their day. This includes you and any other adults at the table. Kids need to see that even as adults, we talk about the positive and negative parts of our day also.
- What was the best part of your day? (the peak)
- What was the worst part of your day? (the pit)
This will then lead into a general conversation about their responses. After you have all discussed your main questions and responses, it’s time to move into more detailed questions.
- What is something that made you laugh today?
- Who did you play with at lunch? What did you play together?
- Did anything make you sad or angry today?
- What made you proud?
- Did you have trouble doing anything today? Is it something we can work on at home to help you?
- What things are you doing in Maths (or other subject)?
- Did you learn anything new today?
- If you were the teacher, what would you have taught the class today?
- Did you accidentally make anybody else sad or angry today? How could we do things differently tomorrow?
- Can you show me something you learned or did today?
- Did anybody need your help in the playground today or did you need someone else’s help?
The trick is to be specific in your questions while also holding the door open for elaborated conversation based on their responses. Doing this each night can give you as a parent, a more in-depth look into their school days. It will help you keep on top of any bullying that may have occurred toward your child or their friends and whether or not your child needs help with a subject at school.
In this day and age, it’s crucial that we keep communication lines open with our children to ensure their health and safety. This tradition can never be started too young. Even if your child is still at home with you all day, start opening those lines with these questions now and you’ll begin a precedent that will hold those lines open during their teens and early adulthood.
