The Question That Starts More Conversations Than Any Other

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If I could give parents, grandparents, and caregivers one question to use more often, it would be this: “What do you think will happen?”

I love that question because it gives children something many of them lose once learning starts feeling too much like school. It gives them room to wonder before anyone asks them to be right.

You can ask it while you are cooking, reading, playing a game, planting seeds, building with blocks, or trying one of those wonderfully messy kitchen experiments that makes everyone lean over the table to see what happens next. Before you explain, correct, or teach, you ask for their idea first.

That matters.

When a child says, “I think…” they are doing more than making a guess. They are practicing curiosity, confidence, language, reasoning, and ownership of their own thinking. They are also learning that their ideas count, even when their answer turns out to be wildly wrong. Honestly, sometimes the wildly wrong answers are the best part.

Somewhere along the way, a lot of children start believing learning is mostly about getting the answer right. I would much rather help them hold onto the habit of wondering.

Try it today. Before you explain what is happening, ask, “What do you think will happen?” Then give the conversation a little room to surprise you. Here's a freebie to help you remember.

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