One Mother’s Story
I always ask the kids about their day at school, and I try to ask specific questions like “Who did you sit by at lunch?” “What did you play on the playground?” “What did you do for specials today?” I do so hoping to spark their thinking and maybe to get them to expound. They almost never do. It’s one or two syllable answers.
So I tried the experiment on my oldest: “Wynn, if I had been in your class, what would I have seen you do today?” He repeated the question back to me, “What would you have seen me do? Let’s see, what would you have seen me do . . .” And then followed an in-depth, detailed account of his entire day. Sample: “Well for recess I played kickball and Mrs. Jones pulled me out of the kickball line. She asked me if I grew up here because there are a lot of kids in our class from different countries. When I went to get back in line they wouldn’t let me in. They said I got out of line and had to go to the back even though the kid that told me that had gotten out of line before to walk across the field . . .” It went on like that for an entire HOUR. Non stop. I didn’t even get to ask his brothers that question. They told me a little about their days, but we ran out of time for me to ask them THAT question!
I haven’t yet told my husband about the “I can see you” trick. Want to see how much I can get him to do before he knows what I’m doing . . . Thank you for sharing! I was amazed how just rephrasing the question opened up so much information.
