Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't get much information out of my kid- you know how it is! Anyone have any creative questions you ask your children to find out how their day was? I find out a lot with A LOT of questioning but anything more fun? Thanks ladies and gents.

Did anyone get in trouble today?
Did anyone throw up today?

These questions opened the floodgates of information about my preschooler's day. A technique I stumbled upon by accident. . .

Aw, you took 2 of my 3. My third is: was there a fire drill today?

DD needs quite a bit of time to decompress after school. She will offer perfunctory responses until after dinner. Then she'll really open up. We keep a container of Table Topics conversation cards on the dinner table and every night at bedtime we talk about our roses and thorns for the day.

Be careful with your very specific questions: For example, if you ask who they ate lunch with too often, your child may begin to think it's a big deal. (It actually is, but you don't want them to know that you think so.)

Try to ask open ended questions that are not personal--then you can lead the conversation where you want it.

One of our kids only talks if he feels like it. Makes no difference how specific or how a question is phrased.

I always start with 'what was your favorite thing that you did today?' Then follow up with 'what was the worst part of your day?' Although I love the 'who got in trouble' question!

We did a lot of "what was the best thing/funniest thing/worst thing" conversations. Also who did You sit with/play with to get to learn names of people in class. I gave my kid a chance to ask me the same questions back which she really liked (and made it feel less like an inquisition). I have a super chatty kid though, so it wasn't that hard.

Always best to offer them a snack FIRST. Little kids need to decompress from high energy environments too, just like adults. Even the extroverts.

I never asked DD anything until she was halfway through her snack.