Encouraging Your Child to Open Up About School
All parents have been there; that frustrating conversation where you enthusiastically ask your son or daughter about their school day and all they can say is “it was fine” or “I can’t remember”. Don’t be too hard on them though – when they’ve spent all day at school it’s probably the last thing they want to talk about when they get home. There are, however, ways you can encourage your child to open up about school more naturally.
Try to ask your child open-ended questions that can’t be answered with a simple yes or no. Vague questions like “How was school today?” aren’t the greatest because they don’t prompt your child to think about the smaller details of the day. Instead, you can ask things like “What did you do on your lunch break today?” or “What did you learn about in English?” You could also use their homework assignments as a conversation starter.
The more you know about your child’s schedule and curriculum, the easier it will be to chat to them about their day. For example, if you know that they had PE, you can ask them which sport they did. What’s more, if you know the curriculum, you can ask about specific topics and themes they might have explored in their lessons.
It’s always a great idea to model the type of behaviour you’d like to see from your children. In other words, if you want to encourage your child to open up about their day, you should open up about your own. Talk about what you did during the day, who you spoke to and how you felt. In doing so, you will show your child that it’s ok to talk about yourself and your feelings; communication is good.
Once your child does finally open up and start talking, be careful not to interrupt them. Let them natter away and listen carefully; otherwise, they won’t feel confident opening up again in the future.
