50+ Dinner table questions to ask your kids for better conversations
Article by Kelly from Happy You, Happy Family - https://happyyouhappyfamily.com
The Best Questions to Ask Your Kid Instead of “How Was Your Day?”
Every evening at the dinner table, my husband and I used to fall into this age-old parenting trap.
“How was your day?” “Fine.”
“What did you learn today?” “Nothing.”
“Who did you play with at recess?” “No one.”
But one-word answers don’t foster a good discussion, and they certainly don’t help us reconnect with our kids after a long day apart from each other.
And yet, it’s absolutely essential that we do reconnect because if we don’t, we pay the price later.
When we’re all feeling connected, the kids jump in to help clean up after dinner – without being asked. They pay attention the first time we ask them to brush their teeth and get pajamas on. When we tuck them into bed, they’re all giggles and smiles.
But when we’re all feeling disconnected? We get less cooperation, more power struggles, grumbles and grimaces at bedtime instead.
What If We Asked Our Kids Better Questions?
I realised I needed to solve the problem of one-word responses so we could have a family conversation that leaves everyone’s connection tank overflowing.
But as busy parents, we’re too exhausted to be creative and come up with questions to ask kids that will get a real, meaningful conversation going. So my first step was to find the best questions for kids that actually work at getting your kids to open up.
You can find lots of questions for children online, but you have to wade through quite a few duds, like:
“What’s your favorite number?” or
“Why do you think some kids disobey their parents?” or
“Frozen or The Incredibles?”
In other words: Boring, loaded, or queued up for another one-word answer that takes the conversation nowhere.
50 Best Questions for Kids…That They’ll Actually Answer
With these questions for kids, not only will you be teaching your child the art of conversation, but you’ll get to peek straight into their heart. What’s important to them, what has them worried, what they are excited about.
And most important of all, you’ll close any distance that’s come between you and your child during the day so you both end the day feeling connected, loved, and happy.
Questions for Kids About Themselves;
What are you excited about right now?
What was your first thought when you woke up today?
What do you want to accomplish by your next birthday?
If you could be famous for one thing, what would it be?
What’s the best thing about your life?
What’s a small thing that makes you feel happy?
What’s something you want to do, but you can’t yet?
What makes you feel loved?
What will you be doing in 10 years?
If you could only eat one food for an entire year, what would you choose?
If you could have one superpower, what would it be?
What’s the best thing that has ever happened to you?
What’s the worst thing that has ever happened to you?
What are you most proud of?
Which rule do you have to follow that doesn’t make sense?
If you could pack anything in your lunch tomorrow, what would it be?
What makes you feel special?
If you had to choose only three words to describe yourself, what would you say?
If you were invisible, where would you go and what would you do?
What do you worry about the most?
What’s something you’re looking forward to?
When do you feel happiest?
What’s the most important thing you’ve learned so far?
What’s your favorite joke?
What is one thing you want to learn how to do?
If you could stay up all night, what would you do?
Questions for Kids About Family And Friends;
27. What’s your favorite thing to do as a family?
28. What’s something nice someone said to you lately?
29. Who understands you the best?
30. If you could change one family rule, what would you change?
31. What’s your favorite thing to do with your friends?
32. If you could switch places with one person for a day, who would it be?
33. What’s something you did to help someone today?
34. What do you get to do at someone else’s house that you wish you could do at ours?
35. What advice would you give to a younger sister or brother?
36. What’s the smartest thing you heard somebody say today?
37. Who made you smile today?
38. What’s your favorite family tradition? Why?
39. What’s the funniest thing somebody did or said today?
40. What was the last time someone was mad at you?
41. If we didn’t have to go to school or work on Monday, what would you want to do all day?
42. Has someone ever asked you to do something you didn’t want to do?
43. What’s the most important thing for a parent to do?
Questions for Kids About the World;
44. Twenty years from now, where do you think you’ll live?
45. What’s the biggest problem in our world?
46. If you could give everybody in the world one piece of advice, what would you say?
47. If you could create one law that everybody on Earth had to follow, what would it be?
48. If you could learn any language, what would you learn?
49. What will the world be like in 10 years? What will be the same? What will be different?
50. If you could live in another country for one year, where would you live?
Continue to the Full Article by Kelly from Happy You, Happy Family HERE
To download a printable version of the full set of 150 questions for kids, head to the Happy You Happy Family website HERE
