Conversation Starters

Yesterday I promised that I would give ideas on conversation starters. I’ve been collecting them for years. As a parent, you might want to keep a few basic questions printed on a 3X5 card to enable you to have conversations with your children privately or collectively while in the car, at the dinner table or at bedtime. Here’s a short list to choose from for your 3X5 card:

If you could ask God one question, what would it be?

What was the __________ (choose one: most challenging, funniest, most surprising, most amazing) thing that happened to you today?

Tell me your favorite joke.

What was the nicest thing you did for someone else today? How did it make you feel? What was the nicest thing that someone else did for you today? How did it make you feel?

If you were writing a Blog about your day, what would the title be?

Describe your day in three words.

Describe “the perfect day,” from the time you wake up until you go to bed.

In two minutes, tell me as much about your day as you can.

Teach me one thing that you learned today that you think I don’t know.

If you were the President of the United States, name one thing that you would change about our country immediately.

What do you think the world needs—right now?

If you were given $1000, how would you spend it?

What can I do for you that would make your life better?

If you were on a deserted island for a year and you could choose one thing to have with you, what would you want?

If you could invent something that would make life better, what would it be?

In your opinion, what is the greatest invention ever made?

If you could visit with a person from history, who would it be? Why?

If you could be an Olympian, what sport would you like to participate in?

If you were to loose one of your senses and you could choose which one it was, which sense do you think you would choose? Why? If it had to be sight or hearing, which one?

Why do so many people enjoy going to the Disney parks?

If you could go on a vacation anywhere in the United States, where would you go?

If you could make a movie, what would it be about? What type would it be? (Drama, history, comedy, mystery?)

Now for questions to put in your Conversation Jar. Let’s start with the humorous conversation starters that I have been saving. Perhaps you can come up with more humorous ones as well and maybe even find some that younger children will enjoy. Consider printing these conversations starters with humor on green paper (or color of your choice), then when the family seems to need humor, someone can be instructed to pull out a “green” slip of paper for that evening’s conversation around the dinner table. Here’s the humorous list:

Why isn't the number 11 pronounced onety-one?    

If 4 out of 5 people SUFFER from diarrhea...does that mean that one out of five enjoys it?

Why do croutons come in airtight packages? Aren't they just stale bread to begin with?

If people from Poland are called Poles, then why aren't people from Holland called Holes?

If a pig loses its voice, is it disgruntled?

Why is a person who plays the piano called a pianist, but a person who drives a racecar is not called a racist?

If it's true that we are here to help others, then what exactly are the others here for?
If lawyers are disbarred and clergymen defrocked, then doesn't it follow that electricians can be delighted, musicians denoted, cowboys deranged, models deposed, tree surgeons debarked and dry cleaners depressed?

If Fed Ex and UPS were to merge, would they call it Fed UP?

What hair color do they put on the driver's licenses of  bald men?

Do Lipton Tea employees take 'coffee breaks?

I thought about how mothers feed their babies with tiny little spoons and forks, so I wondered what do Chinese mothers use. Toothpicks?

Why do they put pictures of criminals up in the Post Office? What are we supposed to do, write to them? Why don't they just put their pictures on the postage stamps so the mailmen can look for them while they deliver the mail?

Is it true that you never really learn to swear until you learn to drive?

If a cow laughed, would milk come out of her nose?

Whatever happened to Preparations A through G?

As income tax time  approaches, did you ever notice: When you put the two words 'The' and 'IRS' together, it spells... 'THEIRS'?

Now copy and paste these ideas into your word processor. I make 3 columns with mine (you get more to a page that way), and print them, cut them up a put them in a cute little jar or box. Start your fun conversations tonight. (Even older couples can use the stimulation for conversations.) I’ll include more conversation starters tomorrow. Until then, enjoy dinner at your home!