How's your day, my darling?

"Did you learn anything today?"
"How much did you get for your test today?"

These are the common questions that parents ask their child when they finally have time at night to reunite as a family after a full day work. This very short reunion time during weekday nights seems to make parents feel stressed and need to go straight to the point.

SLOW DOWN, DADDY & MUMMY....

Perhaps it will be better to start conversations by asking the child questions relating to his/her emotions/feelings. This will help the child FEEL the LOVE from Daddy & Mummy.

"How's your day, darling?"
"Are you happy/ sad today?"
"Tell me one thing that made you happy today."
"Tell me one thing that made you sad today."
"Why so? Is it because you didn't do well in your test?"
"Tell me one thing that made you proud of yourself today."

From here, it is likely that your child would pour out all the stories about him/herself, his/her friends, teachers and things that happened. If he/she says he/she felt sad, maybe she wasn't learning well or maybe she was misbehaving and got a sounding from the teachers. In contrary, if she says she is happy, maybe because she learned well at school.

Children will know their parents are concerned about them, not just what they have achieved.

PARENT-CHILD BONDING will be achieved, and beware of turning this into a PARENT-CHILD PRESSURE reunion time.