What Was Your Favorite/Least Favorite Part of Today: A Question for Toddlers

When my 3yo began telling me she didn't want to go to school anymore is when I started to realize that even toddlers need to vent....

She was always so willing, eager and happy to go to school. Especially after her big brother started Pre-K, she was chomping at the bit to go to school too!

Around January, she began displaying behaviors that were very uncharacteristic of her... crying at drop off, not wanting to get dressed in the morning and begging the night before to NOT to go school. I asked her why and she gave me the typical answer of "Because I want to stay home with mommy". I told her that if she did not go to school, she would miss her teacher and her friends... this did not seem to bother her one bit...

I asked her what she liked and didn't like but was not really able to give me an answer, until I ASKED THE QUESTION DIFFERENTLY:

WHAT WAS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT SCHOOL TODAY?

WHAT WAS YOUR MOST FAVORITE THING ABOUT SCHOOL TODAY?

From here I was able to get A LOT more information about events that were happening and what was causing the sudden "stress of going to school".

I've realized that they are just learning how to be humans and adjust and adapt to their environments (as we all still are.) It's the patience in learning what questions to ask not to get answers, but to show the positives in every situation that might not be "practically perfect in every way" - Mary Poppins