As a parent, conversations with your children can feel like they’re going nowhere. How many times have you asked your kids how their day was only to be given a short one-word answer?
This kind of conversation always ends quickly and goes nowhere. But Robyn has a very simple swap to avoid this, you just need to rephrase the question to get a better response.
Instead of asking ‘How was your day?’ ask: ‘What was the most exciting thing that happened at school today?’
Instead of ‘Who did you see today?’ Ask: ‘Who were the people you sat with at lunch today?’
The questions are open-ended, so they cannot be answered with a one-word response. By asking questions like this it will open up more opportunities because it provides follow-up questions too.
One of the biggest rules of parenting is to stay curious, and asking questions that are open-ended allows you to do this.