In the process of teaching your kids how to live a disciplined life, parents often overlook that one important factor that helps them to parent their kids correctly. A major part of discipline is learning how to talk to your kids in a manner that they will listen. The way you address or talk to your child, teaches him/her how to interact with other people. Therefore, how to communicate with your child properly? Let us discuss.
1. Connect With Your Child:
While being a confidante to your child is a good way of teaching them how to treat others properly, you must forget that as a parent you should provide your child with full attention and comfort when they are expressing something. For example, try to bend down to their eye level and talk to them with eye-to-eye contact while you need to talk about something important. Ask them to give you full attention while you are delivering your words to them and also, provide them with yours too, while they are talking to you. This teaches the child to not only give attention to the person who they are talking to but also how to focus. Be sure not to make your eye contact so intense that your child perceives it as controlling rather than connecting
2. Keep it Short:
When young, children have trouble focusing on a particular subject/topic for a long period of time. In order to teach them how to focus or get your work done, you must keep your sentences precise and to the point. This is called the one-sentence rule. Put the main directive in the opening sentence and don’t continue adding on many words after it. The more you ramble, the more likely is your child to become parent-deaf. As parents, we often make this common mistake of talking too much while dialoging about an issue. As a result, your child comes under the impression that you are not quite sure about what it is that you want to deliver.
3. Stay simple:
One important step to communicate with your kids properly is to use simple terms and words while talking. Start by using one-syllable words and also take note on how kids communicate with each other. Remember, the simpler the sentence, the easier for your kids to understand and communicate with you. But how do we know when or if it’s too much for our child? You may ask the child to repeat your request back to you and if he/she fails, you have to understand that either it was too long or too complicated.
4. Be positive:
In order to learn how to communicate with your child properly, you must keep this in mind that children usually pick up and follow your patterns of behavior. If you mistreat another family member in front of your child, they will learn to do the same; if you express anger violently, they will do the same. Hence, as parents, you must never set such an example in front of your kid. Always try to act in a positive manner while your children are around. In fact, always approach the kids positively, if you wish to teach them proper behavior.
5. Give choices:
Offering your child choices means that they can either choose from the available two options, of which they cannot neglect either one. It is like giving them the option to do a certain task first and then continue with the other one afterward. Offering choices to kids not only makes them feel independent and important but also it helps to develop their decision-making abilities. Offering choices instead of dictating them what to do, is a great way to bond with your kids. It also reduces your stress, as a parent, to chase behind your kid to get their work done as they will be aware of the choices they have made, which their minds will automatically adjust them to perform.
Conclusion:
The way you communicate with your child significantly impacts their learning and ability to listen to us.
We are continually modeling to our kids how to act and behave, and the way we talk to them fits right into this category.
You must remember that aggressive communication style can affect the child negatively. You must learn when to adjust your volumes and speak in more of a soft tone to make your child understand your concerns. However, don’t forget to be firm yet gentle while talking to your kid.
If you find that your child is not responding to your requests or getting confused by your instructions, remember to check for their understanding before moving on to the next topic. Happy Parenting!