Beyond Fine

This article showed up on my Quora feed as a sponsored post and I was almost going to skip it as I usually do with things sponsored. But kids being skimpy with words when describing their day was too close to home and so I had to read. The advice is good and I believe it will work - specially with little ones. Once a habit of sharing and talking about their day sets it is likely to persist even through the difficult teen years. 

J goes through phases - there are times when she has a lot to say about her day and then dry spells follow in which there is almost nothing at all. Irrespective of what she chooses to tell me or not, I always tell her about my day with no expectation of reciprocation. There have been days when I felt silly talking so much and not having a real conversation. When she was younger I was worried about pushing my worldview on her. That led to insistence that she argue anything she did not agree with - not to accept what I say without resistance. While that forced her to participate in the conversation, it also built the defiance muscle almost too well. Careful what you wish for as they say. 

Over the years, she got used to the idea that I share things with her and have no desire to keep any secrets. As her mother, I want to be uncomplicated to J so she can find an easy comfort in my company. What we missed in our own lives we try to give our kids only to discover they longed for things we did not know they did. I will learn where I fell short only when J becomes a mother herself.