Quoting jackie: So the goal is to let him come home, on days without soccer to have a decent dinner getting ready. To ask a question in a postive way: Did you have a good day? (not you look tired, what's wrong) and to act happy even if I want to kill the kids. To be a sunny, upbeat person to come home to. Even if the kids were hellions, to laugh about it.
Sounds like a "plan". You may want to consider mentioning a highlight or two in your day or about the kids. Then pause a bit to see if he opens freely, if not, casually mention how you would like to hear about his day or what happened at work today.
After a while it has become a ritual around our dinner table to tell of daily anecdotes, that even D10 looks forward to hearing the stories.
