Family Dinner Conversation Starters

If you were to ask your child how his or her day was, what would be the usual response? “Fine,” “okay,” and “boring” are probably the most common answers you would hear. Having a meaningful conversation with your children during dinner is not an impossible task – it’s all about asking the right questions.

Start by making family dinner a priority. To achieve this, it is important to be intentional. Remove all distractions, particularly electronic ones. Turn off the TV, leave cell phones in another room, and commit to not answering texts or phone calls during dinner.

Keep abreast of your children’s activities. When you know what is going on in your kids’ lives, you will be able to ask specific questions to draw them out.

• What was your favorite part of the field trip?
• What was the hardest word on your spelling test?

Find something that they are excited about. Be sure to focus on their interests, take the time to let them express their ideas and opinions about these topics. In this way they will be more likely to stay engaged in the conversation.

• If you could build your own robot, what would it do?
• If you could create your own sport, what would it be?

Make it fun. Parent-child discussions don’t always have to be serious. Fun and silly questions are often more memorable, and mom and dad can answer them too.

• If you could choose your own superpower, what would it be?
• If you could be any animal you wanted, what would you pick?

Create a family dinner conversation jar. Rather than try to come up with questions at the last minute, get your kids involved by making it a family activity, and let them come up with their own questions.