The makings of great conversations

So, when I worked from home and after I would pick the kids up from the school - I'd always ask them these five questions:

• What made you smile?
• What made you laugh?
• What made you frustrated?
• What did you do to be helpful?
• What was something you learned?

I loved the openness of my kids responses and often times it would lead to great conversations. And it is one of the things I miss the most now that I'm not working from home and picking the kids up.
I come home after work and some days I feel disconnected from the kids and everything that is happening and often we are catching up with everything else, that I had forgotten about my five questions. It was only until, my wee man, said "I really miss you picking us up and are conversations after school" that it dawned on me.
So, digging around online and using questions we'd play on road trips - I typed up random questions, cut them into strips and put them in a jar. I even included some blank strips and told the kids, if they draw a blank one then they simply must make up a question. The questions range from whimsical, funny, to serious things and each night, each kid gets to pull one question and all of us answer it. Last night I put the jar in front of everyone, explained what it was and the kids loved it, my sweet pea asked if we could answer them all. I was glad they enjoyed it and what resulted was great conversations with my kids. The other rule was we couldn't repeat what someone else had said, so it helps add variety to the answers.
I love listening to my kids and their ideas, their struggles, their hopes and as they get older and closer to those preteen years, I want them to know that nothing is off-bounds when it comes to conversations. My hope is that they will feel comfortable coming to either me or the hubs with anything.