The ABCs of Getting Your Child to Talk About School

How often do you hear about the importance of being involved in your child’s school life? That it’s crucial to know what happens during your child’s day and talking to your child about the important events that have occurred with teachers and peers? These are essential, but in order to do so your child has to talk – and it’s not always easy to get kids to do so. How often have you asked your kid what happened in school and heard simply, “Nothing…” followed by silence? Here are some ideas to encourage kids to talk.

 

• Schedule time after school to talk one-on-one with your child. 

Once your child gets used to this routine, she’ll be more cooperative.

• Explain why it’s important to talk about school. 

The more your child understands the rationale for things, the more likely he will be to open up.

• With little kids, make it into a game.

Try “Two Truths and a Lie” (where the child tells you two true things and one untrue thing about their day and you try to guess which is which) or “Rose and Thorn” (where the child tells you the best and worst thing that happened that day). Or make up your own…(And post a comment telling me what it is!)

• Structure the conversation. 

Ask a middle school child to tell you one thing about each class and one about their friends. Or an elementary school child to tell you three things about their day before lunch and three after.

• Be specific. 

Many kids have trouble with vague questions like, “Tell me about your day.” So instead you might try questions like, “What was your science lab today?” or “What did you talk about in Circle Time today” or “What did you play at recess today?” or “What did you talk about in Social Studies today?”