25 Questions to Ask Your Child About Their Day For many parents, the older your children get, the less they want to discuss their day. By the time they’re teens, asking “How was your day?” on the ride home from school or at the dinner table might be met with a shrug and the ever-popular “Fine.” But engaging your child in conversation can provide a host of benefits, from learning about bullies, school struggles, anxiety, friendships, and even whether they’re getting enough sleep and nutrition to stay focused throughout the day. Questions to Ask Your Child We’ve compiled a list of 25 questions, many of which are open-ended to prevent one-word answers, which can abruptly stop the conversation. Adjust them accordingly based on the age, interests and classes your child is taking to facilitate communication and get insight into how their school experience might be shaping their mood, mind and future. 1. What was the hardest thing you had to do today? 2. What was the best part of your day and why? 3. What class did you struggle with most today and in what ways? 4. Who or what made you laugh today? 5. Did you make anyone else laugh and if so, how? 6. Tell me three new things you learned today. 7. Who did you play with at recess? 8. What did you like about your lunch (or snack) today? 9. In what way were you kind or helpful today and to whom? 10. Was anyone kind or helpful to you and how? 11. What is the most important rule in your classroom? Did you or anyone else break that rule? 12. If one of your friends could be the teacher for a day, who would you choose and why? 13. Do you think you could teach the class? Why or why not? 14. In what ways was today different than yesterday (or Friday) at school? 15. Was there anything at school that made you nervous or scared? What did you—or someone else—do to make you feel better? 16. If you could lead gym class or an activity at recess, what would it be? 17. Does everyone have a friend at recess and/or lunch? 18. Was there anything that surprised you today? 19. Did you feel prepared for all your classes today? Why or why not? 20. If you could cook the school lunch, what would you make? 21. If you could change seats with anyone in your class, who would it be and why? 22. Are there any rules that you think are unfair or hard to follow? Why? 23. What do you hope to learn or do before the end of the school year? 24. If you could change one thing about your day, what would it be? 25. What are you looking forward to tomorrow or next week? These questions are a great start to learning more about your student and how their school year is going. While you could ask every single question, you may make your child feel like they’re being interviewed. We suggest picking 3 or 4 each night at dinner, or while you are in the car. You may come up with a few new one’s in the process. Additional Resources As a bonus, we’ve included three websites to help you brighten your child’s school day. Ready to get started? Whether you’re looking for ideas for creative school lunches, words or encouragement, or silly jokes to hide in their lunchbox, these three websites can deliver! 1. 30 School Lunch Ideas 2. 25 Cute Quotes to Leave In Your Kid’s Lunchbox 3. 100 Short Jokes for Kids Did you questions reveal that something might be going on with you student’s learning? Find out how personal brain training might be able to help!