Dr. Chheda – Your child comes home from school and you say “How was your day?” and they’re like “Uh” or they kind of grunt at you. “Nothing.” Nothing ever happens at school if you ask them directly. But you want to ask more open-ended questions. “Who made you smile today?” “Who did you sit next to at lunch?” “Did you face any challenges?” “Was there a fire drill?” There’s always gonna be a fire drill the first week of school at some point.

But this will open up an organic conversation that you and then have with your child. “Oh, what did the other person eat for lunch? What were they wearing? How did it make you feel? Did somebody make you laugh?”

And then you can go on into “Was math a little bit hard or did you learn anything?” You want that conversation to be organic, so start out with some open-ended questions.

And remember, school is starting – be prepared.