Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. To learn more about ’em, click here. I don’t know about you, but our home seems to operate on a very fast-paced schedule. As a mom, everyone seems to need something from me all the time. It can be pretty difficult to have meaningful conversations throughout the day when I’m trying to feed the baby, get dinner ready and help with homework… The list goes on… But it’s important for me to remember that just as I crave quality time and words of affirmation (Love Languages) from those around me, I know my kids need those things too! And I want to fulfill their needs, but even more than that, I want to develop a strong connection with my kids so that they know where to turn when they face difficult times in their lives.
Pillow Talk Questions for Kids
The best time to start building a solid foundation for your kids is now! These fun, kid-friendly and gorgeous printables {designed by Messes to Memories} are the perfect way to get started! We’ve put together 60 questions and grouped them into similar categories to help you have a meaningful discussion. They are designed in strips to make it easier to keep track of all these fun questions for kids!
You can decide how in-depth you want to go with each question. If you are just getting started, you might be able to speed through one strip of five questions per night. The first night I cuddled up to ask these questions with my daughter she was so excited, she just wanted to hear all the questions. We actually went through a few different category strips! Print them all right away or just save them to a Pinterest board for your kids and you’ll have them for later.
However, after a couple nights, your kids might realize that this is the perfect time to talk your ear off and they might want to talk so much you only get to ask them one question! Which is great! That’s exactly what you want, right!?
Tips for Meaningful Conversations with Kids
There are certain times throughout the day when I make an effort to have conversations with my kids where I let them do the talking. Pillow talk is one of those times! Here are a few tips to help you have meaningful conversations with your kids! (You might want to PIN this so you’ve got these tips to refer back to whenever you need them!)
Listen more than you speak… I usually start the conversation by asking a question or making a comment and then let them talk while I listen or ask a follow-up question. I may pipe in with a “me too!” And occasionally, I’ll share a personal experience or something silly. But for the most part, I want my kids to feel heard! During these moments, I try to keep it positive and open-ended. You want your kids to be able to go to bed on a happy note, so make sure that any conversations you have stay positive! If you do have a concern or some constructive advice you’d like to give – save it to discuss at a later time.
For older kids, this is a great time to ask follow-up questions to make sure you understand their point of view. If possible, validating their ideas and opinions will help build them up and allow them to make thoughtful connections.
Bedtime Routines
I love the idea of incorporating these pillow talk questions for kids into our bedtime routine. It is much easier to slow down at bedtime and put away all the distractions and just focus on each kid one-on-one. Our bedtime routines are crucial for our family! Both my husband and I participate in our nightly bedtime routines. After the kids have tidied up, brushed their teeth and put their PJs on, we start with a family prayer, read scriptures and sing a song together.
Once the kids are all in bed, we trade off which kids we focus on each night. With 4 kids, it would take 30-40 minutes to cuddle up to each kid every night. So we’ll usually give hugs and kisses to everyone and then we’ll each cuddle up with 2 for 5-10 minutes and have one-on-one time to talk, tell stories, have a tickle fight or just snuggle depending on what that child needs that night. Now we can easily pull out these fun conversation starters to vary the discussions we have with our kids!
Questions for Kids
Sometimes we want to have a meaningful conversation with our kids, but we just don’t know what to ask. I love that when I pull out one of these question strips, I know my kids are going to come up with at least one answer that will surprise me. We’ve grouped the questions so that it allows you to dig deep into a single topic.
But there is enough variety so you’re not just asking the same question over and over!
These Pillow Talk questions for kids are a great way to add variety to the discussion! I definitely learn a lot about my kids using these fun conversation starters. And I love that these are not a one time use and then done. My kids love picking out a question strip even if we’ve already read all the questions!
As the weeks go on and they learn and grow a little more, their thinking shifts and their answers change. After going through the questions once, I might put them away for a month or two and then pull them out again. This will keep these Pillow Talk questions special and something exciting that the kids love to do! Scroll down a little further to download these fun questions for kids and start connecting with your kids before they fall asleep each night. And for even MORE bedtime topics, check out the FAMILY CONVERSATION CARDS! Chatting with your kids about their fears, hopes, dreams, ideas, & memories is the best way to get into that little head of theirs, and get closer to them! We’ve created 300 conversation topics of fun family questions & prompts to get you talking together.
