Teaching Brave
Are you even a parent if you haven’t asked your child, ‘How was your day today?’ only for them to respond with a one word answer of ‘Good’ or ‘Fine’ or ‘Yeah’ or maybe even just a grunt.
I’ve always craved to know what my son, Andy gets up to during the day, and on some days, it can be like drawing blood from a stone. So I had to change up how I greeted him after day care or school, and stop asking closed ended questions, (Yes/No answers), replacing them with open-ended questions which he had to expand on a little.
Here are 10 ways you can ask your child about their day, that require more than a ‘Yes’, ‘No’ or ‘Good’ answer.
- Tell me your favourite thing that happened today
- Which friends did you play with today? Did you make any new friends?
- How would you rate your lunch today, out of 10? Why?
- Let me tell you something I learned today. I learned that ‘XYZ…’ What’s one thing you learned today?
- Tell me something that made you laugh today.
- I felt upset today when …. But then I felt better when…. It’s ok to feel different emotions during the day. Is there anything that made you upset today? And then what made you feel better?
- Tell me something you did today that you loved and want to do again some time soon?
- Did you have any different teachers today? Tell me what they did that was different.
- What games did you play today? Were they your favourite, or did you play any new games?
- What’s one thing that surprised you today?
When we ask open-ended questions, it encourages kids to elaborate, to answer the question using a wider vocabulary and makes them think about their answer, beyond ‘Yes’ or ‘No’.
It also helps when you show genuine interest and share parts of your own day, to perhaps inspire them on what to share.
You could also ask these quick questions:
- What’s your favourite day of the week? Why?
- What canteen foods do you really enjoy?
- What do you wish you could wear to school?
- What foods do your friends bring to school?
- What’s your favourite outdoor activity at school?
- Do you think you were a good listener today? Why?
- Do you think you were a good friend today? Why?
- Why do you think your teacher is a good teacher?
- If your school was taking you on an excursion, where would you hope to go? Why?
- What do you think makes your school a good school?
Have you tried asking your kids particular questions and had success? Do they enjoy talking about their day, or claim they forgot?? Haha, I think we’re all capable of that sometimes..
Try out some of these ideas and see how you go!
