After School Conversation Starters

“Hey sweetie! How was school today?” 

“Good”….Silence. 

Sound familiar? Mid-August means that kids are returning to school once again, and the typical questions like, “How was your day at school?” are becoming a normal part of daily conversation. When asked that type of question, most kids respond with a one-word answer like “good” or “fine”. Did you have a good day today? “Yes/no.” Conversation over. You have reached a dead end. If you want to know about your child’s day, short answers like these can be quite frustrating. They provide little insight into how the day actually was for your child. They do not really allow for any shared understanding of what your child’s experience at school was like. 

Asking how was your day is not a bad question, but for some kids, this question is too vague. It is a question that allows for a simple and somewhat mechanical answer similar to when we ask someone about how they are doing. Some kids need prompts to engage in discussion. Other kids need to be given the space to talk. So instead of asking the typical how was your day question? What if you changed the wording? The goal is for you as a parent to gain a little bit of insight into your child’s world. Your child wants you to know about his or her day, but they need to be asked the right questions to open up. With the questions and prompts below, you are still essentially asking your child about the day, but you are providing a way into a deeper conversation. These questions open up the door for a child to talk about his or her day from a different angle. 

Give these prompts a try and see what happens! 

• Tell me about the coolest thing that you learned today. 
• What was the best part of your day today? 
• What was the most frustrating part of your day? 
• Who did you sit by during lunch? 
• What did you play at recess today? Did any of your friends play the same thing? 
• What was the funniest thing that happened at school? 
• What are you learning about in ________________ class? 
• What was the most boring part of your day? 
• What made you most excited at school? 
• What did your teacher spend the most time talking about today? 
• What made you feel proud during your day? 
• Tell me about something positive that happened today. 
• Tell me about something negative that happened today. 
• What kinds of things did you and your friends talk about or do today? 
• What made today different from yesterday? 

By: Amanda Paben, LPC