This topic brings out a lot of personal perspectives and cultural differences. These questions explore everything from family planning to the joys and challenges of raising kids.
Questions are organized by level from beginner to advanced. A printable PDF of all the questions is available at the bottom of the page.
Beginner (A1-A2)
- Do you want to have children? Why or why not?
- If you don’t want children, what are your reasons? If you do, what makes you want them?
- What are popular names for babies in your country? Do you have a favorite?
- Do you like spending time with children? What do you usually do together?
- What do babies need the most? (Food, sleep, toys, love, etc.)
- What games did you play when you were a child? What was your favorite?
- What do parents usually teach their children?
- Where do families with children like to go on vacation?
- Do your friends have children? What are their children like?
- What is one thing you learned from your parents?
- What kinds of chores did you do at home when you were a child? Did you like doing them?
Elementary (A2)
- What do your parents or family think about your plans for having (or not having) children?
- If you do you want to have children, when do you want to start having them? What do you want your life to be like before you start a family?
- What age did women start having children sixty years ago? How about now? Why do you think it has changed?
- Who is the best parent you know? What makes them so good?
- Have you ever taken care of a baby or a young child? How did it go?
- What is the best gift you have ever received from a parent or grandparent? Why was it so special?
- What did your parents not allow you to do when you were young? Why not?
- What is something your parents always said to you when you were young? Why did they say it?
- Are children in your country different from children in other countries? How?
- What did you love doing as a child that children today do not do anymore?
- Have you ever been to a baby shower or a celebration for a new baby? What was it like?
Intermediate (B1)
- How does having children change someone’s life?
- What kinds of things do people have to give up when they have children?
- What are some of the benefits of having children?
- Do you think it is better to have children when you are older or younger? Why?
- What is the best number of children to have? How many boys or girls?
- Do you want your first child to be a boy or a girl? Why?
- How do children who have no brothers or sisters act?
- Would you rather have twins or children born at different times? Why?
- Do you think boys and girls need to be raised differently? Why?
- Should people wait until they are financially stable before having children? Why or why not?
- Should both parents share the work of raising children equally? Why or why not?
- Do you think having children makes people happier or more stressed? How so?
- Should parents try to be friends with their children? Why or why not?
- If you could change one thing about how you were raised, what would it be and why?
- Do you think it’s selfish to choose not to have children? Why or why not?
- What do you think children learn more from: what their parents say or what their parents do?
- How do you think having children affects a couple’s relationship? Is it mostly positive or negative?
- Some people say you should never give parenting advice unless someone asks for it. Do you agree? Why or why not?
- If you could give one piece of advice to all new parents, what would it be?
- How has your relationship with your parents changed as you have gotten older?
Upper-Intermediate (B2)
- Most families in wealthy countries are having fewer and fewer children. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Why?
- How has the role of fathers changed over the past few generations? What do you think about those changes?
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of raising children with extended family nearby?
- In many countries, people are having children later in life. What can be done to support older parents?
- What are the implications of choosing to be a stay-at-home parent in today’s economy?
- In some countries, the government pays families to have more children. What are the benefits and risks of these kinds of programs?
- How does growing up with a single parent affect a child’s development compared to growing up with two parents? Is the difference as big as people think?
- Social media is full of images of ‘perfect’ parenting. How does this affect real parents, and what can be done about it?
- What responsibilities does society have toward children who grow up in poverty? How well does your country handle this?
- What tensions exist between maintaining a career and being a present parent?
Advanced (C1)
- How do cultural expectations around having children both provide meaning and create pressure in people’s lives?
- How might intensive parenting styles simultaneously demonstrate love and undermine children’s resilience?
- Many people raise their children very differently from how they were raised, yet they often catch themselves repeating their own parents’ behaviors. Why is it so hard to break parenting patterns, even when you are aware of them?
- In some countries, people who choose not to have children face social stigma, while in others they are seen as making a responsible choice. What shapes whether a society views childlessness as selfish or sensible?
- Wealthy parents can give their children private education, travel, and professional connections, while others cannot. To what extent does the family you are born into determine your future, and is there anything society can realistically do about it?
- Governments sometimes tell people how many children they can have, as China did with its one-child policy. When, if ever, is it acceptable for a government to make decisions about family size, and where should the line be drawn?
- Children today grow up with screens, algorithms, and social media shaping their view of the world from a very young age. How might this generation’s understanding of reality, relationships, and identity turn out to be fundamentally different from previous generations?
- Having children is often described as both the most rewarding and the most exhausting experience in life. How can something be both at the same time, and what does this tell us about how people find meaning in difficult things?
- More and more people find themselves raising young children while also taking care of their aging parents. How does being caught in the middle like this change the way people think about family, sacrifice, and what they owe to different generations?
- Before becoming parents, people often have strong opinions about how they will raise their children like no screens, no yelling, or only healthy food. Why do so many of these plans fall apart in practice, and what does this gap between ideals and reality reveal about how people handle stress and responsibility?