When your kids were in school did you ask them, “what did you learn today?”?

Never. I always asked “How was school today?” so I could get a more comprehensive idea of what was going on.

@canidmajor That is an interesting point. I can see how that would be a good idea. I don’t think my parents bothered asking me anything about my day. If they did I don’t remember it.

It is also a Jewish thing to ask, “did you ask a good question today.” Not that all Jewish parents ask these things obviously, maybe very few do, but there are stories about it like the joke about the kid learning his name in school.

I didn’t; I asked about their day. But Tom Paxton apparently did. Kind of sounds like education in the South to this day.

I’d ask “What did you do today at school ?”

That would include who they played with or what they made.

We did – indirectly. How was school today? Did you do anything interesting?
I always tried to relate it something tangible, like: “That is useful when you want to buy something.” or “That is how we make a car go.” or “I used that to figure out XYZ at work.”

It was part of the suppertime conversation—- before “devices” stole our time and destroyed family interactions.

Those discussions sometimes led to difficulties later. Two examples off the top of my head:
I was working on some high voltage project in my basement lab and my then 4th grade son noticed an unusual stream of light. What is that? It’s a plasma – the fourth state of matter.
Later when he was in school science class he was taught that matter had 3 states: solid, liquid, and gas. He disagreed and brought up plasma. I had to talk to the teacher to explain it.

Another topic that almost got me in trouble. We used to enjoy a lot of campfires when the kids were little. When I would gather supplies for the fires I would always say we needed 4 things for a fire: Fuel, heat, oxygen, and…. accelerant. It was a simple fact. If you want to light off a pile quickly, you use accelerant: charcoal lighter fluid, used motor oil, a splash of vegetable oil, etc. otherwise it takes too long and the kids get bored by the time it is ready. Of course he did not know the correct answer when it was on the test. His answer made us both look like arsonists at worst or pyromaniacs at best.

When my oldest entered Kindergarten, the school gave us alternatove questions to ask to get the child talking.

So I often asked, “what was the funniest thing to happen in class today?” And then, “what was the hardest thing the teacher talked about today?” and “what was the weirdest thing you learned today?”

Asking oblique questions worked better than the perfunctory, “how was school?”

@zenvelo I can see, if “how was school today?” Was asked in a perfunctory manner, that those questions would be better to draw out the child, but if you asked in a perfunctory manner, then I don’t imagine you would be that interested anyway. My child was engaged and chatty and loved telling me about all the aspects of a school day. It was very satisfying.

@canidmajor My youngest was like that. Very talkative! It didn’t take much to get him started.

In car pool I usually asked if they had fun and sometimes got a grunt, and sometimes got a story. At dinner we usually all answered the question “What was the most interesting part of today?”

I regularly asked my kids “what happened at school today” and almost always got the same answer “nothing”.

I asked my kids what was the best and worst things that happened that day.

“How was school?” Got old real fast so I started asking, “Tell me about something exciting/funny/interesting that happened today?” or “What confused you today?” or “Did you have any adventures today?” and so on.

I tried to switch it up.

@LuckyGuy
If I were you, I would do that intentionally. Overeducate the kid so they start beefing with the teacher. Make them film it, too.