By Paddy Eger

Get a head start on knowing what is happening at school during a family meal. Whether it’s breakfast or your evening meal, when a family sits down together that’s a great time to share ideas and details that keep our lines of communication open.

Avoid the trap of asking “What did you do at school today?” The answer will be, “I don’t know.” What would you answer if someone asked you that question? You’d probably shrugged, which is another way to say you don’t know. Try these types of questions instead; everyone in the family can respond to these:

– What were the three best things that happened today at school/work/stay at home?

– What would your perfect school/work/stay at home day look like?

– What would you change about where you do your work?

– If you were in charge how would you change the tasks you do?

– What tasks would you like to give away?

When you use these open-ended questions, you may be surprised by how much you learn about each person’s day. And, isn’t that what we want; to stay connected with each other?

Paddy Eger is a veteran teacher from the Edmonds School District. She’s participated in classrooms as a community volunteer, a parent volunteer and a parent trainer, as well as a teacher in primary and intermediate grades. Her years in the PCEP, the Parent Cooperative Education Program, as teacher and trainer created the basis for the award-winning book, “Educating America: 101 Strategies for Adult Assistants in K-8 Classrooms” and it’s companion “Educating America Desktop Flipbook.” Today she volunteers in classrooms, trains classroom assistants, and speaks about the value of community involvement. She also enjoy writing Young Adult novels.