Teach Your Children To Listen Actively

Teaching your children to listen actively from a young age is important for their proper development. Children must learn to speak and express themselves correctly, but they must also learn to listen. This will help them succeed in many areas of their lives as they get older.

Learning to listen is more complex than just listening to others. When you teach your children to listen actively, you work with values ​​such as respect. In addition, you will teach them other skills such as empathy, understanding and the ability to concentrate and pay attention to others, all of which are necessary skills for listening.

What does it really mean to “listen actively”?

Active listening is a term from the field of human communication. According to many studies, it refers to an important communication knowledge that helps to improve interpersonal relationships.

When one person can actively listen to another person, they are psychologically prepared and available to hear the other person’s message. In other words, they are willing to respect what they hear. In addition, they are ready to respond with a message that is relevant to the topic of discussion.

As we mentioned earlier, people must also develop empathy in order to utilize and improve the ability to listen actively. You need empathy to put yourself in the other person’s shoes and to understand what they are saying and feeling. In addition, when teaching your children to listen actively, they must have the cognitive ability to interpret the speaker’s message.

It is also important to show understanding through certain non-verbal behaviors. For example, having a receptive posture, maintaining eye contact, as well as using facial expressions and gestures that show that you are attentive. In addition, you should keep in mind that your voice mode is soft and slow.

Active listening ability in children

By nature, children tend to be distracted when someone talks to them. They are not always able to hold a conversation because they can not focus. Instead, they will try to play, move or do something else that catches their attention.

Therefore, when it comes to teaching children to listen actively, you need to understand that it is a skill. And like all skills, your child will need to practice it regularly before learning it.

As a parent, it is important to learn some techniques and strategies that help in teaching your children to listen actively.

Teach your children to listen actively

Through play

When you teach your children to listen actively, you can use all the playful and fun activities that have certain rules. They must follow the rules, wait their turn and show respect for the person they are playing with. All of these aspects of games will help develop their active listening skills.

Organizing games and games and asking your children to play with you is a great way to improve their listening skills.

An example is “telephone” or “complete sentence”. These games both require your child to be aware of what the person before them said.

Teach them to avoid certain behaviors

When teaching your children to actively listen, you must first teach them to avoid certain behaviors, such as interrupting. It is always a good idea to emphasize that they must listen respectfully to other people when they speak, without interrupting. Then, when the other person has finished their thought, they can respond or comment on what they said.

In addition, you should also teach your children to avoid putting their hands in their pockets or crossing their arms when talking to someone. You can explain that these behaviors can make the speaker think that you are not interested in what they are saying.

Active listening skills require your whole body

Another key to teaching your children active listening skills is to show them how to handle their own bodies. For example, teaching them to smile or look the speaker in the eye. You can also work on aspects of good posture, such as keeping your back straight and your head up.

It is important to teach children the importance of the physical aspects of the conversation. Learning to control their bodies during conversation is part of active listening.

Conclusion

The key to teaching your children to listen actively is to make sure that they feel that others are actively listening to them. They want others to listen and understand with empathy. Therefore, if you want your child to learn, the best thing you can do is to set a good example.

So when your child speaks, you should use the same active listening skills that you want them to use. This means that you put away your phone and computer and put away your stress and responsibilities. Then you should look your child in the eye and actively listen to them.