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Family Time =
Learning Time The following topics are suggestions for mums
and dads and step-parents to have 'up their sleeves' when having meals
or spending time with their children. Make sure you have something
to say to start the ball rolling. Look for opportunities to share
your experiences, to inform, to teach, and to encourage. Children
will listen, share, take turns, and be curious along the way.
Remember to actively listen to your children without preaching,
criticizing, or putting them down. During these conversations,
everyone must feel free to say what they like without being offensive.
It's okay to be silly, irrational, or unrealistic.
Creative Topics
- If you could be an animal, what kind of animal would you be, and
why?
- If the house were burning down, what three things would you like
to save? (things, not people-we know you would save the people
first!)
- What are your favorite names - what will you call your children?
- If you were lost on a desert island, what things would be most
useful? (For example, matches, compass, rope, first aid, recipe
book, teddy bear, games, books...)
- Mimicking famous "people"; for example, can you talk like Big
Bird, Cookie Monster, and your Swimming Teacher?
- Celebrate something: a completion, a success, an anniversary,
the pet's birthday.
Personal Topics
- What have you been dreaming about lately? (Sleep dreams or
daydreams).
- What is the best news you have heard this week?
- If you could be the best at any sport, what would it be and
why?
- What is embarrassment? When have you been embarrassed?
- How can you help someone to feel better when they are
embarrassed?
- Are you good at anything that your teacher doesn't know
about?
General Topics
- What place in Canada would you most like to visit?
- What place in the world would you most like to explore?
- What is the most exciting thing you can think of that
you would like to try? For example: surfing, bungee
jumping, parachuting. What would this feel like? How
old would you have to be? How scary would it be?
- Plan an imaginary party. Who will you invite? What
theme will you have? What would you eat? How will you
decorate? What would you wear?
- Plan an outing or a holiday.
- Weather. Talk about hailstorms; what is the
hottest month; the coldest?
- What would you like to do for others?
- What would you like to invent that would make the world
a better place?
From: Tea-time topics for families. Source: Carmel
O'Brien. Unpublished material. Lifeworks,
published by Child Support Agency, Department of Family and
Community Services, 2000 ©
Commonwealth of Australia reproduced with permission. |
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