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The excitement I get from waiting alongside all the other Mums and Dads for our children to appear from the school doors is hard to put into words but seeing his face light up when he sees me really does make me happy. I can’t wait to find out what he’s been up to during the day however more often then not, my excitement is quickly turned to frustration when I ask him the killer question….
What did you do at school today son?
As if by magic he turns into a rock tight MI5 agent within seconds and his normal inability to keep a secret is all of a sudden diminished as he is able to easily hold in what he’s been doing today in the 6 hours he’s been learning.
Try again….
How was school today son?
Good Dad
What did you do?
Can’t remember
Good! Thats all! Good! So, in my quest to hear more about what he’d been doing, I try and be more inventive with my questioning tactics and try and beat him at his own game… So here are my top 10 list of unique questions to ask your child about their day at school…
- Tell me something or someone that made you laugh today?
- Tell me a weird word that you heard today?
- Did anyone get in trouble / told off / cry today?
- Whats the best thing you like playing at lunch time?
- Is there anything you wished you didn’t have to do at school today?
- What was better lunch or desert today?
- Did you get any house points / lunch time awards today?
- If you could be the teacher, what would you teach?
- Who would make the best teacher out of all your class mates?
- Who are you 3 best friends at school today?
REMEMBER:
Don’t interrupt – Let them tell you there stories, wait until the end before speaking, the idea is to get your child to speak more about their day, not you.
Expand – once they have finished their answer, see if you can continue the answer and build on their vocabulary with further questions such as…. and did you do that today? Who with? what did they think?
Show interest – Looking at Instagram on your phone, singing to the latest song on the car radio or day dreaming about other things won’t help to convince your child its worth their effort to tell you about their day.
Remain positive – even if your child tells you something you don’t want to hear, I’m not saying turn a deaf ear to something which isn’t right, but remember your reaction when doing so, you don’t want them to think they can’t tell you something moving forward for fear of them getting a grilling.
So there we are, some of the questions I use to get what H has being doing at school out of him….If all else fails…. just bring the Scooter and give them some space, they’ll soon tell you more…
Are there any you use which seem to do the trick?
Until next time
Jim x