Tell me if this sounds familiar; you pick up your beloved children from school. You’re interested and excited! You want to how their day went. You’re all set with some basic questions to ask kids about their day… and you’re met with either shrugs or a half-hearted “fine”.
FINE? That’s all the information I get? Seriously!?
Here’s a pretty common exchange in our house…
FRUSTRATING! I don’t know what it is, but general questions about what happened during the school day are never well received. At least not by my kid.
“I learned pretty quickly that if I wanted to find out how my son’s day was and what was happening in his life, I had to be really strategic.”
As parents, we obviously want to know what’s happening in our kids lives when they’re not with us. And we definitely want to know how their school experience is going.
In fact, two of the questions in the list below helped me discover a bullying situation that was happening at my own son’s school!
To get to the bottom of your child’s school day, you’re going to need to be prepared with some questions to ask kids that require more than “yes”, “no” or “fine” for an answer.
Luckily we’ve got a whole list of open-ended questions for kids that fit the bill perfectly.
Here’s our list of strategic questions to ask kids that’ll get your child talking.
Oftentimes you’ll find that once you get the ball rolling, your kids will naturally open up and share more. Good luck!
20 Questions To Ask Kids About Their School Day
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- Who did you play with at recess?
- Who did you sit next to in class?
- What is your favorite part of school?
- What is your least favorite part of school?
- Who did you help today at school?
- What was the book you read at story time today?
- What was the funniest thing that happened in your class today?
- What’s the most interesting thing you heard at school today?
- If you could change just ONE thing about your school, what would it be?
- If you had $1,000 to buy something for your school, what would you buy?
- What was the most fun thing you did today at recess?
- Which kid got in trouble for something today?
- Tell me about one thing you learned today?
- Who are your three very best friends?
- What was the hardest thing you did today?
- What do you like most about your teacher?
- What are you looking forward to learning in school tomorrow/this week/this month?
- When I went to school there were some kids that were a kind of mean and used to tease other kids, have you noticed anything like that at your school?
- Who is the nicest person in your class?
- Do you have a class pet? If not, and you could choose one…what would you pick?
Talking to our kids about school is a great opportunity to discover how our children are doing, adjusting, learning and getting along with peers and teachers.
It’s also a good way to pick up on any potential bullying type situations so you can intervene before they get out of hand.
I learned about the bullying situation at my son’s school when I asked him #4, “what’s the least favorite part of your day?” And #9, “what would you like to change at school?”
He told me about an older child that was harassing him at recess.
I would have never known about the bully if I hadn’t asked those two questions for kids!
Related: Possible Signs Your Child Is Being Bullied
Now I try to be prepared by having some questions of the day for kids handy and ready to go. It’s a real lifesaver when you’re faced with the daily silent shrug.
The next time your child clams up, try pulling out this list of clever questions to ask kids about their school day.
It may be just what you need to break the ice and get a conversation started.
SHARE these 20 clever questions to ask kids — WITH OTHER MOMS WHO MAY ALSO BENEFIT.
