5 Quality Dinner Conversation Topics that You Can Talk with Your Kids Before They Hit 10 Years Old

“How was school?”, “Is the food good?”. It is always the same small things to ask about when it comes to having a conversation with your young children or maybe just utter silence. Often, dinnertime is when the entire family gets together. This is the time where you are going to talk and get your kids to share what's really going on in their minds. Photo Credit: The Atlantic It can be tough to have deep conversations with your kids as it would definitely be the common “How was your day?” and their standard response would just be a simple “Fine”. You really want to talk with your kids, but you really don’t know how and this can be upsetting. Lay your worries dear parents, try these five meal-deep conversation topics with your kids. 5 Meal Deep Conversation Topics That You Can Try With Your Kids: 1) Bullying Photo Credit: Adobe Stock It’s undeniable that this particular topic about bullying is hard to bring up during dinnertime. Sometimes we just have to jump into it to know better rather than being unaware. If you suspect your child has been bullied, understand that your child might be uncomfortable to speak about it. Try to approach them about it slowly and try to tell your kids to speak up and tell the bully to stop in a straightforward and calm way. Advice your child to walk away from the bully if that's too difficult or they are not brave enough and ask them if they can try to find a teacher who can help to solve the problem. 2) Mental Wellbeing Photo Credit: Adobe Stock You might not notice these kinds of things because they always seem fine in your eyes. We as parents have to ensure our own mental health and so are your kid’s mental health too! In addition to asking the children, “How was your day?”, parents should also be sure to inquire, "How are you feeling?” to let kids know that talking about their feelings is okay. Preschool-age children require less details and less explanations than elementary school children when it comes to discussing mental health. Similarises mental health to physical pains is what works for both. Encourage your children to be able to express feelings of depression, tension, or sorrow in the same way as they would tell you whether they have a fever or if their stomach hurts. Comfort their distress in the same way you would comfort their pain with a ‘booboo’ kiss on their bruises. 3) Sex, consent, and boundaries Photo Credit: Adobe Stock Young children might be harassed everyday but they would also not know that they are actually being sexually harrased. This is very important for you to teach them about it. When it comes to touching or being touched, all kids should learn about what is and what is not acceptable. Kids should know about boundaries and consent from the age of 2 to 5. You don’t have to tell the details. Instead, concentrate on basic touch-based games which consist of you having to ask permission from them first to hug or tickle them and to have them tell you when to stop. Tell them that they can tell you when it is not comfortable and point up that if they have ever felt that they were sexually harassed, they should speak to you. Set rules for speaking to strangers, sharing images online, for children aged 6 to 10. If there is anything that makes them feel uncomfortable or disturbed, ask them to straight away discuss it with you. 4) Loss or death Photo Credit: Adobe Stock Yes, you can talk about death and loss with your small kids. Tell them in simpler and comforting words just like how you would want to hear about death from an angel. You can talk about funerals and give your child a freedom to express his feelings about the person who has died. It doesn’t have to be people, it could be for their pet animals too. If one of your relatives or pets died, ask your kid on how they are feeling about it. Death might be hard for them as young children don't grasp death's permanence yet. They wouldn't comprehend that once someone died, they will be gone forever. One of the best ways for young kids to understand this is to let them read the book "I'll Miss You, Mr. Hooper." 5) Drugs, alcohol, and smoking Photo Credit: Adobe Stock There are a lot of films that have a character who smokes, do drugs or alcoholic. We can’t help but to see these characters in movies even in superheroes/action ones. Perhaps, your child might also see such characters from the people closest to them such as from the relatives or older siblings. Photo Credit: Adobe Stock Grab this chance to teach them about how cigarettes, vapings, alcohol and drugs that affect one’s body and health. Keep it simple and in a decent manner. Lastly, dumb it down for little ones by teaching them about the damaging effects on the body that these chemicals can do while you can mindfully go into greater detail for children aged 7 to 10. These are some of the topics that you can (actually) talk to your kids during dinnertime. It doesn't have to be every day, but you can make it as a routine for your family. Some in-depth conversation between family members goes a long way.

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