a better way to ask
“how was your day?”

by Dr. Deutsch, Director of Instruction

When children come home from school, many parents like to connect by asking, “How was your day?”  As parents, we may get frustrated with one-word answers, like “fine” or “I don’t know.”  According to understood.org, the key to better communication is asking open-ended questions that make your child feel special, cared for, and important.  If you ask your child questions that can be answered with one word (yes, no, a name), then you’ll probably get a one-word response.  Here are some other questions to try when talking to your child about school:

• What made you smile today?
• Can you tell me an example of kindness you saw/showed? 
• Does everyone have a friend at recess?
• What’s the word of the week?
• Did anyone do anything silly to make you laugh?
• What did you do that was creative?
• What is the most popular game during recess?
• What was the best thing that happened today?
• Did you help anyone today?
• Did you tell anyone “thank you?”
• Who did you sit with at lunch?
• What made you laugh?
• Did you learn something you didn’t understand?
• Who inspired you today?
• What was your least favorite part of the day?
• What is something you heard that surprised you?
• What is something you saw that made you think?
• Who did you play with today?
• Tell me something you know today that you didn’t know yesterday.
• What is something that challenged you?
• How did someone make you feel good today? 
• What did you have for lunch?
• Rate your day on a scale from 1-10.
• Did anyone get in trouble today?
• How were you brave today?
• What questions did you ask at school today?
• Tell us your top two things from the day. 
• What are you looking forward to tomorrow?
• What are you reading?
• What was the hardest rule to follow today?
• Teach me something I don’t know.
• If you could change one thing about your day, what would it be?
• What made your teacher smile? What made her frown?
• What made you feel happy? 
• What made you feel proud?
• Did you learn any new words today?
• What do you hope to do before school is out for the year?
• If you could switch seats with anyone in class, who would it be? And why?
• What is your favorite part of the school building? 
• If you switched places with your teacher tomorrow, what would you teach the class?