At the end of the preschool day, it’s not always easy to extract information from your toddler to understand the preschool experience through their eyes. That’s why we’ve put together this blog post to offer guidance on talking to your toddler to understand how their day truly went!

As a parent, it can be difficult to drop your child off at preschool for the day. You may have many questions on your mind such as, “What are they eating?”, “Did they get enough outdoor time?” and “Is my child behaving?”

First of all, if your child’s preschool program is doing their job well, they will provide you with detailed updates on how your toddler was behaving, what they learned that day, what they ate and more. If your child care provider is not creating daily reports for you as a parent, your next steps should be to speak with the director of the preschool to request this information on a daily basis.

If you are not receiving regular communications about your child’s day (and even if you are!) it’s important to ask your toddler specific questions about his or her activities. Rather than asking, “What did you do today?” (which often results in an uninformative answer), use more directed questions based on what you do know about their day. For example, if you know that each day includes reading time, ask, “What books did your teacher read to you today?” or “Who was your favorite character in the story?”

Other questions you may want to ask to uncover more details about your toddler’s day include:

• Who did you play with today?
• Can you sing me a song you learned?
• How did you feel today?
• Do you like your teacher? Why or why not?
• What was the most fun activity you did today?

A major benefit of asking your toddler questions about their daily preschool experience is that it will cause your child to revisit those activities in their mind. This type of thinking is proven to have a positive impact on a child’s brain development. Additionally, thinking back to the day’s activities helps to bridge the gap between the two environments (preschool and home) in the child’s mind, which can often become separated. Connecting these two environments can also have a positive effect on cognitive development.