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10 Conversation Starters That Won’t Bore Your Kids

by | Aug 8, 2017


10 conversation starters that won't bore your kids

I don’t know about your house, but in my house having a dinner time conversation is like pulling teeth.

It usually goes something like this:

Me:  “What did you do today?”

Child: “I don’t know.”

Me: “Well, what was the best part?”

Child: “Lunch. Playing outside.”

Me: “What else did you do? Who did you play with?”

Child: “Can I be excused? there is lettuce touching my meat. Did you know that Pokemon…”

Next thing you know he is off on some tangent about Pokemon. I explain that I have no idea what he is talking about, he gets frustrated, rolls his eyes, and the conversation is over.

Realizing that my goal of meaningful conversation was quickly going down the tubes, I started experimenting with some new questions, just to see what would happen.

For some reason, it worked.

You can get your children to talk to you at dinner, you just have to get creative.

 

10 Conversation starters that won’t bore your kids

 

1. if you could go anywhere on vacation, where would you go?

At first, my son insisted that he would go to the beach.

Then I mentioned more “exotic” things that would require us to fly and he got excited. We ended up getting on the Disney World and Lego Land websites.

Once he got started he came up with all sorts of places for us to research and discuss. We had a sort of added educational bonus with looking up information on African safari’s and whale watching.

2. What is your favorite family tradition?

I was pleased to hear my son say that he enjoys spending time with his grandparents and all of his aunts and uncles. There was some discussion of specific holidays, but we couldn’t choose one favorite.

Eating Sunday breakfast together ended up being our best family tradition.

3.What is the funniest thing in the world?

 

Minions…..at this age it is all about minions. With a little Pokemon and Wild Kratts thrown in.

4.What is your favorite toy and why?

This was a tough one, but it generated a lot of conversation.

We went through super heroes, movies and water balloons. Since we often have a flavor of the week around here, we never really settled on one favorite.

5.What would you most like to learn?

How to fly a kite? How to ice skate?

The possibilities are literally endless.

6.What special talent would you like to have?

Paddle boarding is mine.

The child said he wanted to learn how to fly. Not an airplane, just himself.

7.Where will you live when you grow up?

E tells me he is never moving out. I told him he better discuss this plan with his father.

When asked if he would take care of me when I’m old he said, “No, I’ll build robots to take care of you.”

If he can build robots to take care of me I hope he can also sell them.

8.Use three words to describe yourself?

Describing themselves in three words might be harder than you think. Or it could be easier.

We got “silly” and “hungry.” Had a little trouble coming up with a third.

9. what is your favorite song?

Around here we have a lot of songs we dance to. After much deliberation we decided on “Try Everything” from Zootopia.

Then we danced a little. And he told me I am a good singer but I shouldn’t do it “all the time.”

10.What are you looking forward to in (insert 1st, 2nd) grade?

Eating lunch in the cafeteria. At first I didn’t understand why this was such a big deal. If anything, I thought he would find the cafeteria loud and overstimulating.

As it turns out, he loves having his own lunch box and he cannot wait to stay at school all day and eat with his classmates.

 

No matter how well we think we know our children, they always find ways to surprise us!

Family dinner time is so important for connection and keeping up with what is going on in our lives. Food is a social experience, so we might as well make it positive.

So often we rush through our evening, getting dinner on the table and then bath/shower and bedtime. Children don’t always act like they want to talk to us.

But if you are consistent and make it fun, they will start to participate.

You can get your children to talk to you at dinner, you just have to get creative.

 

After writing this article I stumbled upon The Family Dinner Project. 

So many great ideas for getting your kids to talk to you!

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