Talking to your Child About School

I found these great articles about how to talk to your child about school that I'd like to share here.

• From PBS Parents : Talking with Kids about School. This one doesn't have all the text in one page which I prefer, so you'd have to scroll patiently from one page to the next. Still its worth the scrolling :) as the article contains some really useful tips including Talking Strategies and Questions that Work, which I tried out. I'll share them in a while but first here's another site, I'd like to share with parents of school going kids.

• From SchoolFamily.com : Have a Conversation about School. The article shares how you can get beyond one word answers and find out what your child really thinks and feels about school. I also like this list of Talking About School Articles from SchoolFamily.com. I haven't had the chance to read all of them yet but it looks like a great list and I'll check back on it regularly to read when I come across new challenges with my school going kid. In the meantime, here's an article that is relevant to this post so I'll put the link in here: 20 questions to ask your child.

After reading the articles above, I tried a new strategy of talking to my girl. Instead of asking her "How was school today?" as I often do as soon as I see her or in the car or during lunch. I try not to do that since it usually gets me general answers like "A bit nice" or "A bit not nice" and if I probe more, she'll go "I can't remember. Everyday school is the same. I can't remember.".

I can read my girl pretty well, so when she goes "A bit nice" or "A bit not nice" I can tell generally how her school day went but it doesn't tell me more than that. So now, I will ask her more specific questions when I have the chance during the day (instead of right away), perhaps while packing her bag together etc.

Yesterday I tried "What was the most not nice part of your day?" and "What was the best part of your day?" and the answer I received? "The most not nice part was when teacher scolded everyone." "The most nice part was going home!" Hahahahaha. We both had a good laugh about that answer and decided that if I asked her that same question everyday, the answer would most probably be the same. lol.