Talk to my kid? What do I say?

Conversation. What do you talk about with your teen or adult child? Following are some questions to get conversations going! Let's turn our devices off and TALK! Only by face to face contact can people learn confidence, emotional regulation, and empathy. (Dr. Thomas Kersting) So let's TALK!


Questions to deepen a relationship with a teen or young adult child:

(Note: Be ready to answer these questions yourself, or even first to get things going)

1.    What’s the best thing that’s happened in the last day/week/month?

2.    Who is your hero/heroine? What do you admire about him/her?

3.    Tell about your favorite book/movie/musician.

4.    Where would you like to visit if money were no object? What intrigues you about this place?

5.    If you were given a million dollars, what would you do with it?

6.    Tell about a funny incident that made you laugh & laugh.

7.    Who was your favorite TV, movie, or cartoon character growing up?

8.     What is your favorite thing to wear?

9.     Where did you grow up?

10.  Did you ever have a nickname?

11.  What was your favorite song as a teenager?

12.  How old were you when you had your first job? What was it?

13.  What was your favorite toy?

14.  Tell about your pets when you were growing up.

15.  When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? Why?

**************************************A little more personal *************************************

16. Tell about a time you were proud of yourself.

17.  What about our family do you think are strengths? Areas we can grow in?

18. What qualities are you looking for in a future spouse?

19. How do you cope with feelings of nervousness?

20. How do you cope with feelings of inferiority?

21. What is one of your deepest hopes?

22. Tell about one of your fondest dreams.

23. What do you see yourself doing in 5 years? 10 years? 25 years? 

24.  If you had only 2 months to live, what would you do?

25. If you had a magic wand, what social problem would you change? How?

Only by returning to the face-to-face conversation can our kids (of any age) grow to be emotionally mature adults. We need it too, so let's TALK!