Innovative ways to keep the family conversation interesting

Extended family conversation is what I dread most at Thanksgiving and holiday meals because there is always one person who dominates the conversation with an unfiltered life story that sounds like a broken record. Perhaps every extended family has that one member that holds a one-way conversation that goes on and on without one second of silence and seems to forget to include everyone else in the room in conversation. While everyone else in the family is trying to be polite, no one has the courage to challenge and innovate the conversation and make a change.

This year – I plan to take the lame out of the family get together and innovate the situation with questions to keep the family discussions fresh and lively. Our time together at the table should be viewed priceless instead of self-absorbed wondering when the broken record is going to end. My goal is to have my family will be volunteering feelings and information that you would have missed otherwise.  So instead of tuning out, I am going to tune-in, ask questions, show interest, and encourage one another.  Hopefully this might catch on!

First establish the etiquette and ground rules for successful conversations (dos / don’ts):

• Do Only one conversation at a time.
• Do allow everyone to participate in the conversation.
• Do take time to think before you speak.
• Do be prepared with safe topics and questions to discuss.
• Do engage, have fun, listen, joke, and enjoy each other!
• Don’t engage in side conversations.
• Don’t domination conversations and overshare.
• Don’t bring any cell phones to the table.
• Don’t answer the house phone and try to mute ringers during a meal.
• Don’t have magazines or newspapers open at the table.
• Don’t have any negative talk, arguing, heavy discipline, or sarcasm.

Questions to Start the Conversation

Here are great conversation starter topics for family based, the goal is to try to engage and try to get family to elaborate more than one sentence. Most important try to learn something new from everyone sitting at the table:

Family

1. What is the most challenging thing about childhood?
2. How has your family shaped your personality?
3. Who in your family are you most like?
4. What quality do you most value in friends? In family?
5. What is the best quality you’ve inherited from either of your parents?
6. How will you parent differently than your parents?
7. What do you think your parents need to remember about being a kid?
8. What’s your favorite family tradition?
9. If our family were the characters from (your kid’s favorite book, movie, etc.), which characters would we all be?

Friends

1. What is the best way to meet new friends?
2. What is the biggest favor you have done for your friend? What is the biggest favor a friend has done for you?
3. What is the most annoying type of friend?

All About You and Personality

1. How would you describe your personality? How would others describe your personality?
2. What is the best aspect of your personality? What is the worst aspect of your personality?
3. What personality traits do you hate in other people?
4. What personality traits make a good leader?
5. Can a person change their personality?
6. Where do personalities come from? Are they genetic or from the environment? Or both?
7. How about personality traits of family and friends? What are the good and the bad?
8. Describe yourself in five words.
9. What are the most interesting things about you?
10. If you could be a character from any book, what character would you be?
11. Which movie/book/tv show are you ashamed to admit you like to watch?
12. What is the one book you think everyone should be required to read?
13. How do people often misunderstand you?
14. From which person have you learned most in your life?
15. If you were a superhero, what would your power be and what would you be called?
16. If you could go into the world of one of your favorite books, which would you choose?
17. If you were a great inventor, what would you invent?
18. Name three things you are grateful for.

Life and Scenarios

1. What are some of the biggest challenges you have faced?
2. What is the best criteria to measure success?
3. Are there any failures in life that you are proud of?
4. What is your biggest success? What is your biggest failure?
5. What is the biggest lesson you have learned from failures?
6. Have you turned a failure into a win?
7. Do you learn from failures or keep repeating them?
8. What is the most recent success you have had?
9. What is the next biggest success?
10. What is the most spontaneous thing you’ve you ever done?
11. What thing that you haven’t yet done would you most like to do?
12. What historical figure do you most identify with?
13. What surprising skills does she have?
14. Favorite complement?
15. How would you like to be remembered when you are dead and gone?
16. What’s your first memory?
17. Time travel, where would you go?
18. What event has changed her life destiny?
19. Oddest job ever?
20. Ideal vacation length?
21. Ideal 5/10 year life plan
22. Most embarrassing moment?
23. Three main goals in life?
24. Five things you can’t live without.
25. What books have you read more than once?
26. Worst chore on the chore list? Most liked chore?
27. Greatest achievement?
28. Most memorable birthday?
29. Recent life changes?
30. What would you do if you won the lottery?
31. What’s your theory on deja vu?
32. What is the one cleaning tip you swear by?
33. Do you believe in fate?
34. What scares you and why?
35. What do you think the meaning of life is?
36. What would be the most fun birthday celebration you could have?
37. If you could invite any person to dinner, who would you invite?
38. If you could take a trip anywhere, where would you go?
39. Where in the world would you most like to live?
40. What gets you excited?
41. If you were granted three wishes, what would they be?
42. What are you most proud of?
43. What is the best dream you’ve ever had
44. Which of the four seasons do you like best and why?
45. What sound really bothers you?
46. First life memory?
47. Favorite toy as a child?
48. What do you do when you see someone being teased?
49. Favorite food?
50. Best or worst gift you ever gave/or got from someone?
51. What is the strangest gift you received?
52. Who do you think is the richest person in the world?
53. What do you do when you’re feeling really angry?
54. What is the most creative gift you have received?
55. If you were a teacher, what would you teach? A certain class? A certain grade?
56. If you won $1000, what would you do with it?
57. Who is the funniest person you know? Why?

Go ahead ask away. Let us know what you think in the comments below. What is working and what doesn’t work? That is how we innovate.

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