Connect With Kids – Part 3

Connect With Kids – Part 3

We have been talking about connecting with kids and starting a conversation with kids in general, whether you know them or not.  Why is this important?  Because connection with other adults outside the home has shown to build resiliency.  Resiliency is the glue that gives kids the strength to resist the difficulties of growing up and helps with at-risk behaviors.  In my last blog, I listed ten questions to ask kids incidentally say while you’re at the mall or downtown and you see them.  Start a conversation, compliment them, ask them a question, anything to help build relationships with them.  Many adults feel that once their kids are grown and gone, they need nothing to do with kids.  The opposite is true; kids want contact with other adults but often feel kids feel like they don’t want to talk with them or don’t like kids.

When I hear kids having fun while playing in my neighborhood, I thank God for them because they are the community’s life; they give it class.  Here are some more questions to ask kids to get those conversations started.

1) What is your favorite holiday?

2) Recognize something they are doing and ask them, How do you do that so well?

3) Who is your best friend?  What are the qualities that you enjoy the most?

4)  Tell me your favorite nursery rhyme?  Put them on the spot with this one and make them think and laugh.

5)  What do you want to say that you’ve done by the end of the summer?

6)  Are you working on that goal right now?  How is it going?

7)  Do you look forward to going back to school in August?  Why or why not?

8)  Tell me some slang that kids use now?  Practice it with them.

9)  A comment like, “I like that you guys are laughing and having fun.”

10) What makes you happy?  Notice how this answer changes over the years and track it with a grandchild, for example.  Tell them what they said when they were 4 or 5 now that they say 15.  It will start an entire conversation in itself.

These should give you an idea of some great questions to ask and give you a chance to interact with kids.  The interaction is fun and will become a habit when you’re in public.  Besides, it will lift your spirits and cause you to reflect on your youth and how you would have answered.

Other posts in this series can are here Connect With Kids – Part 2 – Dr. Rich Patterson (pattersonphd.com); Connect With Kids – Dr. Rich Patterson (pattersonphd.com); Connect With Kids – Part 4 – Dr. Rich Patterson (pattersonphd.com)

An external source on this topic can is found here 7 Ways to Connect with Your Children (childdevelopmentinfo.com)

Yours for Better Parenting,

Rich