Parenting Communication

Communication in parenting is like speaking through a microphone for the better part of every day. We are role models of the most important kind and they hear everything! Even when we don’t think they are paying attention.

Kids are funny. They are truly a result of the image we build them into. You see, it seems that kids tend to take what we have to say quite literally! What this means is simple…The words you use with your children will create how they act and the person they become. More important, those words will either build upon strengths or build upon weaknesses.

...No pressure, right?

Here’s a couple tips to get things going in the right direction:

• Tell them what you want them to do.

We spend too much time telling our kids what NOT to do. How many times have we said “Don’t touch that!” or “Stop that!” Instead, we need to be saying things like “Can you come away from the stove?” or “Could you please find something else to play right now?” Tell them what you want them to do and you create a positive cycle of communication with your child that will pay dividends over and over again as they grow older.

• Catch them doing something positive.

We spend too much time only focusing on what children are doing wrong. It’s not that we are bad parents. I believe that it has more to do with the speed of life these days. When you get busy, you go into a natural state of putting out fires to keep the status quo. This is usually what I see most in my work. We want to keep everything running smoothly and if the children are behaving and things are the way we want them, we'll rarely say anything. It’s when we see a fire, that we say something. Let your child know when they are doing something positive and watch the frequency of those fires drop significantly!

Read related material: Parenting Teens

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