What's the best thing that happened in school today?

A few days ago, I started reading Steven Vannoy's book, Ten Greatest Gifts I Give My Children : Parenting from the Heart.  One thing I liked right away was the idea of steering the conversation from, "What went wrong today?" to "What went right?"

The author gives a few examples of leading questions for conversation such as "What's the best thing that happened to you today?"  "What did you like most in the movie?"  "What are you most looking forward to doing this weekend?"

I tried out a couple of things on my own.  "Who's your favorite teacher so far this year?  Why?  Who's your second favorite?"  Also, "What do you like most about the way we're redecorating your room?"  The goal is to spend as little time as possible dwelling on the negative.  If my kids are dwelling on kids, teachers, or situations they don't like, feel free to change the subject as soon as they've expressed their main points.  It may be therapeutic for them to START expressing their negative feelings, but it's not so great to wallow in those feelings indefinitely.  A shift to "the bright side" is a good idea.

I've been trying this with adult friends as well.  One friend tends to complain a lot about some of her co-workers.  I used to debate her on this.  Now, I'm trying to just ask, "So who is your favorite person in the staff?  Why?"  This seems to help her light up a little bit more when she talks about work.