texts below are from © Common English Phrases to Use at Home & With Kids
Chores
Tidy up your room
Could you tidy up your room, please?
Make the bed
Sweetie, can you make your bed before we leave?
Get dressed
Honey, I think it’s time to get dressed – we have to go in an hour!
Learning
You have to be ready for school in… minutes!
You’re off school for a week
Isn’t it great Jenny you don’t have to get up early in the morning? You’re off school for a week!
Eating
What’s for dinner?
Who’s cooking tonight?
Put the kettle on!
Take a few more bites!
Please Harry, just take a few more bites and then you’re free to go!
Playing
Close your eyes and count till ten!
this is what you tell your kids when you’re playing “hide and seek” with them.
Want a piggyback ride?
let’s say, for argument’s sake, your daughter loves when you’re running around the house with her up on your back. Well, guess what? It’s called “piggyback” in English, and here’s how you propose the activity to your child: “Want a piggyback ride?”
Go easy on him (her)
imagine two children playing and one of them getting a bit physical with the other. It’s not really a fight situation but you’re still a bit concerned that someone might get hurt – so this is how you tell the child to calm down a bit and not be so aggressive.
That’s my boy (girl)!
this is how you praise your child for having done a great job or having shown good results in some sports game.
Common, you can do it!
are you not so sure how to encourage your child during a competition? Well, learn this phrase and use it!
You beat me again!
and this is what you’d say when your child has beaten you in some game. Well, we all know only too well that sometimes we allow our kids to beat us in order to make them feel good about themselves, so this phrase will definitely come in handy for you in such situations.
Gotcha!
are you chasing your kids around pretending to be the Big Bad Wolf? Or maybe you’re just playing “hide and seek”? Then this is the typical exclamation you can use when catch or find someone.
Sleeping
It’s time to brush your teeth!
is it getting too late and it’s time for the kids to get ready for the bed? This phrase is typically used to tell them to go to the bathroom and start brushing their teeth.
Let me tuck you in!
“tucking in” is the process of putting the blanket edges in between the child’s body and the bed thus “wrapping” them tightly and making sure they feel safe and sound. And this is how you tell your child you’re going to do it: “Let me tuck you in!”
Sleep tight!
just another version of “Sleep well!”
Sleep in
“sleeping in” means sleeping longer than usually, typically it’s understood you sleep till you wake up without an alarm. Let’s say, your kid doesn’t have to get up early the following morning, so this is what you might say: “Honey, you can sleep in tomorrow, the school is off for a few days because of the bad weather!”
Time to get up!
your daughter or son will hate you for saying this, but what other option have you got? If they have to get up for school or a trip, it just has to be said!
Rise and shine!
this is an English idiomatic expression, and you use it when waking up someone in the morning. The meaning of this phrase is “wake up and feel great!”
Sleep well?
and this is how you ask the question “Did you sleep well?” in conversational English. Basically you just drop the first two words and make it shorter.
Worrying
Are you warm enough?
this is what my granny always used to ask me, and it’s something you can also ask your child when you’re a bit worried if they’re dressed appropriately.
Are you hurt?
if your child, or anyone else for that matter, seems in distress and you want to make sure they haven’t gotten themselves injured, this is the right question to ask.
Where are you hurt?
this question means “Which body part is hurting?”
Where did you get hurt?
and this question means “Where were you when you got hurt?”
Scolding
Be nice to your (mom, sister, etc.)
if you’re witnessing a child behaving a bit inappropriately towards someone, this is the remark you may want to use.
Where are your manners?
imagine your teenage son burping or indeed – farting – at the dinner table, for example. Now, this kind of behavior would merit a response such as: “Where are your manners?”
Don’t do that, it’s not nice!
this is what’s typically said to small children when you don’t want them to do something that’s not socially acceptable.
How dare you speak to me like that?!
if your child is verbally abusive towards you, you may be left with no other option but to say such a thing. Yes, we should stay calm on all occasions, but sometimes we also lose our cool, so this phrase will come in handy in such situations.
Orders
Hurry up!
this is a very simple way of telling someone to make it quicker.
Get ready!
“get ready” is a typical English collocation and is used to prompt the other person to ready themselves for something. It’s simple enough, but still worth learning because some of us may find it hard to use the right verb with the word “ready.”
Compliments
Good job!
you can tell this to your child when he gets a good grade or made something go.
You’re doing this well!
while your child is performing a new task.
Wow! That’s a huge leap forward!
when your child improved a lot in a class or in a task