We all know how difficult it can be to gather the family around the dinner table, as many of us have children with after-school activities, but studies have shown that children benefit from having regular family dinners, as it’s a time when family members can connect and engage with each other.
Once you do get the family together, it can often be difficult to get children to share much about their day or what they’re thinking about.
Elaine Harrington, MD, a pediatrician with Via Christi Clinic, offers some mealtime conversation starters for both young children and school kids to help enrich family mealtimes.
These open-ended questions will hopefully help you learn more about your child’s day and what they are thinking about.
Questions for young children:
- What is the nicest thing you did for someone today?
- What is the nicest thing someone did for you?
- What books do you like to read?
- What was the weather like outside today?
Questions for school children:
- What makes somebody a good friend?
- Have you been a good friend to someone lately?
- What is the hardest thing you did today?
- If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?
- What are your favorite foods in the meals we make at home?
