As a young mother, I took a course based on a book titled "How to talk to children so they will listen, and how to listen to children so they will talk to you." It had great information like this. One of the most helpful hints that really helped me was this simple phrase: Tell me about....... Instead of saying How was school today, How was soccer practice, How was the birthday party etc. Instead simply start the question with "Tell me about." This way the child is then going to share more about their day, their activities. Then when the child tells you something about their day or activity your response starts with "thanks for sharing that", or something like "I enjoyed hearing about". This builds a bond of mutual trust and respect. 😇