Most parents and adults take their connection with their children for granted. They think that the kids will come to talk to them on their own, if they need help. Moreover, some parents also assume that it’s pointless to ask little children questions because they don’t understand and don’t know how to respond. But asking questions is very important; it helps you get to know your children and understand their wants, needs and personality better.
Asking questions is also important to help children learn important social skills. They understand that questions are conversation starters and use them to kick-start conversations with others and keep the conversation flowing. Additionally, questions for kids are extremely important to get your kid to open up about themselves. Questions also boost their critical thinking skills, develop their language, spark their imagination and help them come up with creative ideas and solutions to problems.
But what kind of questions should you ask your kids to get to know them better? Most kids either grunt or just respond with “I don’t know” or “nothing” when you ask them questions. This is because most little kids are still developing their language skills and don’t know how to respond or express what they want to say. But asking specific open-ended questions or leading questions with a prompt helps them zero in on the detail and answer the question. For example, “How was school today, who did you sit with for lunch?”
Here are 4 amazing yet simple kinds of questions that you can ask your children to get to know them and understand them better.
4 Kinds of Questions You Can Ask Kids to Get to Know Them Better
- Personal Questions: Asking your children personal questions helps you connect with them and learn more about them. These questions can help you start a conversation with your children and learn more about their interests, passions, ideas, opinions, needs and wants. Here are some examples of personal questions you can ask your child:
- What is one thing you are afraid of?
- What annoyed you today?
- What made you laugh today?
- What do you like about your best friend?
- What do you want to be when you grow up?
- What is your favorite thing to do?
- What makes you nervous?
- Get to Know You Questions: These questions are quite similar to personal questions, and they help you learn more and get to know your child. While some little ones love to talk a mile a minute and share every minute detail of their lives, some don’t like to talk. These probing questions can get your little ones to reveal more about themselves. This can help parents and teachers take the right decisions to better aid the child’s growth and development. Here are some examples of get to know you questions:
- What is your favorite book and what do you like about it?
- What is your favorite part of the day?
- What do you enjoy most about school?
- What is your favorite memory?
- Who inspires you?
- What is your favorite subject in school?
- Which subject do you struggle the most with?
- What is your favorite thing to do with friends?
- If you could change one thing about the world, what would it be?
- Just for Fun Questions: Questions are not just a way to get to know a person, but they’re great icebreakers too. Asking funny questions can help you make friends and help diffuse a tense situation too. Questions like would you rather questions are also a great way for parents to spend some quality time with their children. Here are some examples of just for fun questions for kids:
- Would you rather have toes instead of fingers or fingers instead of toes?
- Would you rather eat dessert all day, everyday or never eat dessert at all?
- Would you rather star in a comedy movie or a sci-fi movie?
- If you could have a superpower, what would you want it to be?
- Would you rather dress in fashionable clothes and smell bad or dress in rags and smell good?
- Would you rather be able to read everyone’s mind or be invisible?
- Would you rather live in a lonely cabin in the woods with your family or live alone in a castle with a unicorn?
- Would you rather eat pizza with chocolate or ice cream with mustard?
- Questions to Stimulate Their Imagination: When you ask your kids questions that stimulate their imagination, it improves their thinking skills. Additionally, it helps the kids make the connection between thinking and doing. It also helps them think of different ways to solve a problem and come up with effective solutions. Here are some examples of questions to spark your child’s imagination and get them thinking:
- If you won a million dollars, what would you do?
- If you could trade places with the president for one day, what would you do?
- If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
- If you write a book, what would it be about and what would the title be?
Questions are also great for bonding with your little one. So, cultivate an open atmosphere by asking them questions and encourage them to ask you questions.