Children are excellent observers. They learn mostly through observation and mimicking what they see. This means parents have to pay close attention on how they talk to their children as well as how they behave. Talking to your children might be a challenge even though you spend most of your time with them. Parents should be mindful about several factors in order to effectively communicate with your children
Active Listening
Your child may want to talk to you about their day, or something exciting they did in school. When this happens, as a parent, your obligation is to listen mindfully to their stories and put away distractions such as your mobile phone or other devices. This behaviour is known as active listening. This cultivates a sense of importance in your childs mind. They recognize that their voice has a place in your time and it will continue to encourage their communication
Engaging in interactive conversation
Listening to your children speak is paramount in building relationships with them. Asking them questions and reiterating sentences they already said may contribute further to solidify the relationship. Asking follow up questions helps them to develop linguistically as well as inter personally. Children at a developing age will benefit greatly if encouraged to speak more to the people closest to them. This will help foster the relationship further.
Speaking clearly
The language you speak in to your children will greatly reflect in their vocabulary and personality. Speaking clearly and promoting enunciation of the words will mold their organs of speech more effectively. No matter what language you speak in, speaking clearly will help them greatly. Using kind words and being mindful of speech patterns will reflect positively in their speech as well. Engaging in conversation about topics that they enjoy will further their love for it.
Encourage Listening
Kids may often talk to you in broken sentences or wrong grammar but they can understand the emotional essence of a person’s speech much more instinctively than an adult. Thier emotional responses to conversations are quicker and more intense than that of adults. Helping them develop emotional intelligence through developing soft communication skills is one way to strengthen their ability to understand you. Teach them the importance of communicating their feelings effectively so they can understand the importance of it when building friendships and relationships later in life.
Understanding nonverbal cues
Children may not always be able to use words to say what they mean. As parents, understanding your child’s expressions when they are sad, angry, pleased or upset about something will help you understand their mind better. For example, they may act out or throw a temper tantrum when upset or frustrated. Understanding what they are feeling in that moment will help in communicating your thoughts to them so you can take action appropriately. This supports your childs communicative journey effectively without causing them extra stress.
In conclusion, effectively communicating with your child will lead to them growing up to be individuals with well spoken, polite and pleasant personalities. Moulding the communication skills of a child can seem like a great task at times. However, when you as parents run into an issue that bears fixing, resorting to these options may help you out. Effectively communicating from a young age itself is greatly understated in a child’s education, therefore we must understand the importance of effectively communicating with our children and lend a hand in its development.
