The Art of Listening & Connecting

Talk so your kids will listen, Listen so your kids will talk

Today’s parent forum focused on how we can connect with our children through thinking about when, where and how we connect.  We began by considering which experiences are opportunities for positive and negative connections.  The image below shows the parent ideas of how to create positive opportunities for connection.

We also listened to Dr. Couslon in thinking about how we can connect with our children through listening and connecting with them through empathetic listening and through calm and kind talking.

We ended the session reviewing the following tips and tricks to support the work of connecting with our children:

Tips and Tricks

• Connect before you direct
• Be present give them your full attention
• Say their name and be mindful of tone
• Listen with a closed mouth
• Validate the emotion
• Avoid making threats and through on your promises
• Avoid shaming or sarcasm
• Keep it brief and simple
• Open ended questions
• Give choices where possible when to talk
• Avoid saying no all the time
• Be curious not furious
• Teachable moments
• Avoid interviewing for pain
• Build routine or traditions to connect
• Autonomy vs control

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