Do you listen to your child?
More often, successful parenting requires us to adopt good listening skills with our children. Simply, listening to your children is very important if you want them to obey you well.
Parents have the greatest infuence on their child, they often observe what we do and how we speak to form their basic awareness.
We can always work towards our listening skills, here are some tips for your considerations.
Creating a heartfelt environment:
- Spend time together. When we are close to our children, they would trust that we are always there for them. Allocate sufcient time each day for family meals and sharing fun activities. Do household chores together, read stories before bedtime and spend some time sitting with them doing their homework too.
- Tune out distractions. Concentrate on listening to our children when they want to talk. Free yourself from your phone, tablets or stop peeping at the TV while you are having a conversation with them. Avoid thinking about work or ofce afairs during your engagement.
- Calm down. We do get worked up at times when they are not listening to us despite repeated reminders. While it is easy to say things in anger, we may regret it later. Keep yourself cool if possible.
- Think positively. Create awareness to our children that we do pay close attention to them a lot. Talk to them as friends, less about grades and instructions, motivate them to open to you through light-hearted conversations.
Do you care to listen more to Your Child?
Anyone can strengthen their ability to listen well. The mastery can foster good relationships with others too.
Consider these to improve your listening skills:
- Improves interaction. Active communication works both ways. Be sure you can listen to them as much as you speak.
- Do not judge. Demonstrate to your children that you love them the way they are. If you need to disagree with their choices, explain to them why. Do not relate back based on their past behaviours and penalize them.
- Be encouraging. Motivate your child to develop their own perspective and think about how to solve their own dilemmas. Resist the urge to give them answers or solutions by encouraging them to take small steps to their challenges.
- Address underlying issues. Look beyond the superfcial behaviour and fnd out about the underlying reason. Listen to them. It is often not too difcult; we need to try to do it well. Remember we have gone through a lot more to bring them to where they are, practicing active listening can be trivial eforts considering what we have already done for them.
- Spend time together. When we are close to our children, they would trust that we are always there for them. Allocate sufcient time each day for family meals and sharing fun activities. Do household chores together, read stories before bedtime and spend some time sitting with them doing their homework too.
- Tune out distractions. Concentrate on listening to our children when they want to talk. Free yourself from your phone, tablets or stop peeping at the TV while you are having a conversation with them. Avoid thinking about work or ofce afairs during your engagement.
- Calm down. We do get worked up at times when they are not listening to us despite repeated reminders. While it is easy to say things in anger, we may regret it later. Keep yourself cool if possible.
- Think positively. Create awareness to our children that we do pay close attention to them a lot. Talk to them as friends, less about grades and instructions, motivate them to open to you through light-hearted conversations.
Do you care to listen more to Your Child?
Anyone can strengthen their ability to listen well. Mastery can foster good relationships with others too.
Consider these to improve your listening skills:
- Improves interaction. Active communication works both ways. Be sure you can listen to them as much as you speak.
- Do not judge. Demonstrate to your children that you love them the way they are. If you need to disagree with their choices, explain to them why. Do not relate back based on their past behaviours and penalize them.
- Be encouraging. Motivate your child to develop their own perspective and think about how to solve their own dilemmas. Resist the urge to give them answers or solutions by encouraging them to take small steps to their challenges.
- Address underlying issues. Look beyond the superfcial behaviour and fnd out about the underlying reason. Listen to them. It is often not too difcult; we need to try to do it well. Remember we have gone through a lot more to bring them to where they are, practicing active listening can be trivial eforts considering what we have already done for them.
