Tired of the being met with silence or just a really reluctant “fiiine” whenever you enquire about your children’s day at school?
I know. It’s the worst.
However, it seems Neil Patrick Harris might just have a trick up his sleeve that we should all be trying.
The actor, 46, who is a dad to 8-year-old twins, Harper and Gideon, recently spoke about how him and his husband, chef David Burtka, had to be more intentional in the way they communicate with their children, who are now in third grade.
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“It takes a minute to remember that yes or no questions, at least to 8 and 9-year-olds, doesn’t really encourage them to embellish very much,” Neil recently told Mother.ly.
“I try to ask them questions as if it is some kind of game. ‘Tell me three things that happened today at school—one that was funny, one that was exciting and one that was a little bit scary,'” he explains. Harris is passionate about getting teachers and kids the school supplies they need, and he’s also passionate about finding out what his kids get up to in their classrooms. According to Harris, the key to getting kids to open up is taking this question further and giving kids a direction to take the conversation in.
“Instead, I try to ask them questions as if it is some kind of game. ‘Tell me three things that happened today at school—one that was funny, one that was exciting and one that was a little bit scary,'” he explains.
Harris says this helps the kids take on the challenge of opening up and having a conversation, rather than just serving up one-syllable replies. That’s why the father-of-two tries not to ask things like, “What did you learn today?” or, “How was school?” (but like all of us, he sometimes slips up).
“Because unless they really want to share a specific thing, there’s so many options on how to answer those kinds of questions. I ask them myself, but I catch myself. You’re gonna have to be a little more bespoke in your questioning to get the answers you want.”
Feature image: Neil Patrick Harris/Instagram
