10 Brave Questions to Ask Your Kids
By Courtney Hollingsworth, LPC
There are a lot of lists of fun questions to ask your kids floating around the web. Lighthearted and funny, they’re great! But here is a list of REALLY brave questions to ask your kids. They may sound straightforward and simple, but asking them, and being truly open to the answers (i.e. being vulnerable) takes real courage. The answers may really surprise you. Listen to them. Should you choose to ask your kids these questions, and I think you ought to, prepare yourself to accept their answers. Period.
-DON’T try to persuade them out of their answer.
-DON’T argue with their point of view.
-DON’T try to justify choices you or your partner have made.
-DON’T downplay the significance of what they’re sharing.
-DON’T laugh when they are serious.
These questions are learning opportunities FOR YOU.
They are not meant to be correcting opportunities. If you feel the urge to push back on their answers, notice where that desire is coming from and your own discomfort. Even if you don’t agree with your child’s perception of something, rather than attempting to change it, wonder why their perception or experience is different than yours. Perhaps even ask them.
Unfortunately, if you’ve already regularly interacted with your child in ways that have communicated (perhaps subtly) any of the following, then you can’t expect an authentic answer from them:
-Rejected their interpretation/perception/experience
-Refused to hear their thoughts or feelings
-Insisted they agree with you
-Assumed that because they are kids their input is inherently inaccurate or inconsequential.
-Invalidated their feelings
Ask yourself, or your co-parent, if these feel true of you. If so, go do your own work with a counselor to improve your own vulnerability in relationships, including with your kid(s).
10 Brave Questions to Ask Your Kids
- If you could change one thing about your life, what would you change?
- What is something you wish I would change?
- What is something you wish your other parent(or caregiver) would change?
- Do you feel like you can share most things with me? How about your other parent(or caregiver)? If not, is there something I can change?
- What is something you dislike about our family or would change if you could?
- Is there anything you’ve wanted to ask an adult about, but haven’t?
- When you think about the biggest hurt you’ve experienced, what comes to mind?
- Who are the people you trust the most and distrust the most, and why?
- Has anyone ever made you feel uncomfortable?
- Has anyone ever touched you in a way that felt uncomfortable or wrong?
The point of these questions is to have an open dialogue and invite your kid to share with you in ways they may not otherwise consider. Some of these questions may need to be tweaked based on the age of your kid, but I strongly believe every single one of these can be asked in some way at any age or stage. For a younger kid, one or two questions per conversation, more for middle-aged kids, and teens might be able to have one whole conversation, though maybe not depending on their personality. And don’t ask these only once. Ask them every so often! And if your kid shares something that falls into the category of abuse, bullying, self-harm, etc. DO SOMETHING. If you aren’t sure what to do, ask your child’s school counselor, pediatrician, or make an appointment with a counselor.