10 questions to ask kids at dinner
Ask your child one or two easy questions at dinner, listen to the answer, then ask about one thing they said. That back-and-forth is the useful part. Harvard's Center on the Developing Child says exchanges like this with a caring adult support early language and social skills.
Questions to try, in any language you speak at home:
- If you were a bird, where would you fly?
- What would you do there?
- What made you laugh today?
- What was the hardest part of your day?
- Who was kind to you today?
- Who did you help today?
- If you could talk to one animal, which one would it be?
- What is something new you learned?
- What should we cook this week?
- What do you want to do tomorrow?
How to keep it going
- Listen first. Look at your child while they answer. There are no wrong answers.
- Ask about their answer. If they say "the moon", ask "What would you see from up there?"
- Give them your answer too. Taking turns makes it a chat.
With a very young child, talk about what they can see and feel: "You're eating rice. Is it hot?" Harvard says naming what a child is seeing, doing or feeling helps build language connections.
Harvard calls this "serve and return", like a game of tennis: your child says or does something, and you respond.
Source: Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, Serve and Return.
آج کھانے پر بچوں سے یہ دو سوال پوچھیں: "اگر تم پرندہ ہوتے تو کہاں اڑتے؟" پھر پوچھیں: "وہاں جا کر کیا کرتے؟" جواب غور سے سنیں، پھر ان کی کسی ایک بات کے بارے میں پوچھیں۔ ہارورڈ کے Center on the Developing Child کے مطابق خیال رکھنے والے بڑوں کے ساتھ آپس کی بات چیت بچوں کی زبان اور میل جول کی صلاحیت بڑھانے میں مدد دیتی ہے۔