Listen and Communicate Effectively!

Constructive Parenting… Did you know that effective listening comes in a 70:30 ratio? That means listening about 70% of the time and talking about 30% of it.

Parenting Technique 17  – Listen and communicate in fun and easy ways.

Your part of the conversation should be made up mostly of open-ended questions that will stimulate your child to talk. These are the kind that will not lead to yes or no answers. Use the words what, how or why to start your questions.

* What happened?

What did you think about that?”

* How did that happen?

How did you do that?

* Why did you do that?

* Why did you say that?

Once you get your first answers you can use nurturing words and sounds like “good, oh, really, hmm, etc.” to encourage fuller explanations. Tell me more works really well after that.

 

Comments

  1. This is good advice. My kids all enjoy being listened to. We generally go back/forward with ideas if we are chatting about issues that need a solution. Otherwise, I attempt to listen more than I talk, yes. “How was your day today? What was your favorite part of the day? What class did you enjoy most? Tell me more about that…” Thanks for the great posts, Sally!

    • sally

      Here’s a fun thought! Did you know that it takes the exact same letters in the word “listen” to make the word “silent?” Hmm… very interesting!

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