When I went for my son’s pre-school briefing, the principal mentioned something that got me thinking- Don’t ask your child- “What did you do today?”.
At first, I thought why not? I’ll be curious to know what happened in school, what he learnt, what activities he did or if there was anything particularly interesting that happened that day.
She went on to say that most kids at age 3 or 4 would probably answer you with “nothing” (She’s right!). And when this happens, parents start questioning the school and are doubtful about what their children do in school (makes sense I guess).
The principal also went on to explain that most kids are in school for about 4 hours a day. And most of the time, their schedule is pretty packed- so it’s not that they’re doing “nothing”, it’s mostly because they’re doing so many different activities that they’re not sure about what to say.
Maybe it’s us parents that need to ask the right questions.
After some research on the net, I came to the conclusion that with young children we need to be a little more specific in what we’re asking. So as an alternative to “what did you do today” or “How’s your day”(which are pretty open-ended questions), I’ve compiled a list of questions that might just get you an answer that is more than just “nothing” or “fine”.
Questions to ask your preschooler after a long day in school:
- What did you have for snack-time today?
- What games did you play today?
- What was the funniest thing that happened today?
- Did anyone make you smile?
- What would you rate your day on a scale of 1 to 10? Why?
- Did anyone make you mad/scared today?
- What is your teacher’s most important rule?
- What was your favourite subject to study today? Why?
- What is one thing you did today that was helpful?
- What rule was the hardest to follow today?
- Did you make any new friends?
- What’s your favourite time of the day?
- Which playground skill do you plan to master this year?
- Which area of your school is the most fun?
- Did you have some playground time today?
So try it out and see it works for you. It definitely worked for me. Now I have a 3-year-old that can’t stop talking.
