Getting Your Kids To Talk To You
Getting our kids to talk to us is never easy (unless we\u2019re standing with car keys in hand, front door ajar, 15 minutes late for an appointment). Based upon empirical evidence, \u201cHow was school today?\u201d is the most annoying question a mom could ever ask. So why bother trying?\n\xa0Because Jennifer Kolari, author of Connected Parenting: How to Raise a Great Kid, says getting our kids to open up is part of our job description:\n\nIt\u2019s our job as parents to help our kids sort through and process the things that happen to them during the day. \u201cThey don\u2019t have the higher-order thinking to do it on their own yet.\n\nIn this episode we lay out what gets our kids to talk\u2013\xa0at every age and stage.\nMargaret says you have to \u201ctalk the talk that arrives.\u201d\nBut Amy comes at it armed with research; if her ninth-grader wants to talk NBA draft, she\u2019s ready to lean in.\nBoth of us plan to work on what Marie Roker Jones calls \u201clistening with the intent to understand.\u201d \nHere\u2019s links to some research and hilarious takes on this topic that we mention in this episode:\nAlice Bradley for Lifehacker Offspring: Stop Asking Your Kid About Their Day\nMarie Roker-Jones for Good Men Project: 10 Ways to Get Your Son to Open Up and Talk to You\nClare Gagne for Today\u2019s Parent: Age-By-Age Guide To Getting Your Kid To Talk\nfrom American Girl: Conversation Starters To Get Your Girl To Talk About Her Day (to our surprise, \u201cWhat emoji best describes the day you had?\u201d was a great question!)\nLiz Evans for Huffington Post: 25 Ways to Ask Your Kids \u2018So How Was School Today?\u2019 Without Asking Them \u2018So How Was School Today?\u2019\nThe Ungame\xa0\n\u2026and some perfect viewing for you and your teenager: Maddie Corman\u2019s wonderful short film How Was Your Day? \nHow do you get your kids to open up? Tell us in the comments!\nHere\u2019s one way we get our kids chatting with us\u2013 cooking together. We\u2019ve both been pleasantly surprised at how HelloFresh has turned dinnertime prep into something our kids love to participate in. We follow the easy (super-easy) directions, chop along together, and then we all sit down together as a family to try something new (and maybe even talk about it).\nGet $30 off your first HelloFresh delivery by going to\xa0hellofresh.com and entering the code mother30.\n\xa0\n\xa0\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices