Every day it’s the same thing. I’d pick my first grader up from school & on our way to the car our conversation always went like this…
Me: How was your day?
Sophia: Good
Me: What’d you learn? or What did you guys do?
Sophia: I don’t remember
…how can’t you remember?! You got out of school 17 seconds ago. We literally haven’t even left the premises yet. But this is how it goes Monday-Friday. And I remember being a kid & giving my mother the exact same answers…and I remember her response being just like mine, “how can you not remember?”
Then I started asking her the question in different ways like “What was the best part of today & what was the worst?” or “What was the best part about lunch?” (I’ve seen firsthand how crazy K-2 graders can get at lunch, there’s always an interesting story). Sure enough, she became all too willing to spew all the gossip & hilariousness that ensued during the day.
So how can you get your little bundles of joy to share more with you? Try using some of these questions instead of the generic, boring, “how was school?”
1. What was the best part of your day? What was the worst?
2. What was the funniest thing you saw today?
3. What was the best part of lunch?
4. Did anyone get pin down? (it’s like a behavior chart they use in class. They misbehave, their pin gets moved down). You could also ask if anyone misbehaved in class.
5. What’d you guys do at recess/Who did you play with?
6. What was the hardest part of the day? What was the easiest?
7. Who did you sit with at lunch, what’d they eat?
8. Tell me something you learned & then pretend you know nothing about the subject so they have to tell you.
9. Did you raise your hand in class today to answer a question? If so, what was it & did you answer correctly?
10. What made you bored today?
11. What was your favorite class today?
12. Who was the funniest person in class today & why?
13. Did you help anyone today/Did anyone help you out today?
14. Did everyone get along today?
15. How many stars overall would you rate the day?
Give these a try & I’ll bet your kid will start talkin’ in no time!
