Topics for Family Conversations
Is life a bit hectic at your house now that we’re approaching the end of the school year? If the lives of family members have gotten a little too busy, you may want to think about ways to reconnect with everyone. One of the best ways to do that is at family meals.
First, establish “Manners for Talking.”
· Don’t interrupt
· No put downs
· Look at the person who is talking.
Dr. Thomas Lickona, author of several books on children and character, lists these possible dinner topics for conversation:
· What was the high point of your day?
· What was something you did today that you never did before?
· What’s something you’re looking forward to?
· Appreciation Time: What’s something someone in the family did for you recently that you appreciated?
· What’s a way that you helped someone recently?
· What’s a way that someone helped you recently?
· Tell one thing you learned this week.
· What’s something that’s been on your mind lately that you haven’t told anybody about?
· Who’s having a problem or worry that the rest of us might help with?
· Take turns asking questions: Ask anyone else at the table a question. (If they don’t want to answer that one, they can request another.) The person who answers the question asks the next question. Keep going until everyone has been asked a question.
· Clip a letter to an advice columnist; read it out loud but not the advice. Ask, “What advice would give this person?”
You can order a set of forty cards with family mealtime conversation starters through the ISU Extension Online Store at www.extension.iastate.edu/store. The publication number is EDC 0248. If you don’t have internet access, contact the county extension office for more information.