Share Feel-Good Stories to Get Your Kids Talking

Kids aren’t always open about what’s going on with them, especially teenagers, but we have a surefire way to get them talking: share feel-good stories.

Now we know life can be hectic, especially when you have a busy family. It can be hard to find time in the day to be together as a family. A shared meal is often the easiest way to get everyone together. For most, this is often at dinnertime. For others, it could be breakfast.

Even if you can’t all have a meal together, try to have at least one parent eat with the kids on a regular basis. This will allow you or your partner to connect with your children in a meaningful way and get a feeling for how things are going. When you regularly eat a meal with your children, you’ll most likely be able to tell when something is going on or they might need some extra attention.

By sharing feel-good stories, you can get a peek into your child’s day. You’ll get to hear about the people they see and spend their time with. You’ll also brighten everyone’s mood in the process while fostering compassion and empathy in your kids.

There is so much negativity in the world that seems to be the focus of many things (if you watch the news, you know what I’m talking about). By sharing feel-good stories, you’ll be choosing to focus on the positive things in the world and the good people do.

First, take a day to pay attention to what goes on around you. See if you can find anyone being kind or going out of their way to be nice. Or maybe you found an opportunity to do one of these things. Then that night at dinner, or the next morning at breakfast, ask your child to keep an eye out for goodness. Share what good thing you saw someone do or did yourself. Let them know why you felt it was a feel-good story.

Then ask your child to keep an eye out for feel-good stories while they go about their day or see if they can help create a feel-good story by helping someone. The next time you sit down together for your shared meal, see what they have to share. If they say nothing, urge them to keep looking for a moment or to create one themselves.

If you keep sharing feel-good stories, it will be hard for them to not notice opportunities themselves and before you know it, they’ll be talking about the things happening around them.  This is when the real magic happens, and you’ll get a peek at their day.