As a former social worker and a leadership coach, I’ve been crafting the art of question-asking for decades, and I know there is nothing more limiting to creating connection than asking the standard “How are you?” or “How was your day?”
During shelter in place, in an attempt to lure my son out of his room, I invited him to play a game of Uno with me. During our Uno games, I would ask him questions to explore how he was navigating the abrupt change to his life. As a former social worker and a leadership coach, I’ve been crafting the art of question-asking for decades, and I know there is nothing more limiting to creating connection than asking the standard “How are you?” or “How was your day?”
Over time things changed from me cajoling my son to come out of the adolescent cave of his room, to him one day appearing at my bedroom door with Uno cards in hand, ready for a new round of questions. This challenging time is now becoming an opportunity for me as a parent to ask more meaningful questions and listen more deeply as my son reimagines his life.
If you are also listening more deeply to your girl or student, I hope you can join us in one of our programs for families, girls, or educators and youth development staff this month. Just like my evening Uno card games with my son, we are all being given an opportunity to create new patterns of connections that we can carry into our newly imagined future.
Here are some of my favorite conversation openers you can try with your young person or student.
Download 27 Ways to Spark Deeper Conversations
There’s more ways to stay connected:
Sign up for one of our upcoming programs, attend a free parent and caretaker webinar, and read our posts on Wellness and Connection At Home or Ideas For Sparking Joy.
Comments 2
Yosselin Yudith Amaya Cabello
Gracias por todos estos recursos que nos facilitan, nuestras adolescentes y nosotras lo valoramos.
Dorothy Ponton, Digital Marketing Manager
De nada. Gracias por informarnos que los está utilizando.