Being a parent isn’t always the easiest thing. There are moments that bring you joy and happiness, but there are also times when you want to sit in a corner and cry because of the situations that you’re experiencing with your children. When you’re able to develop the lines of communication with your children, then you will sometimes see that the moments of sadness and tears begin to dwindle and are reserved for the special moments in the lives of your children.
When you think about communication as a parent, you might think of only talking to your children. However, there are many more components to communicating that you might not even realize. Listening and picking up on the cues that your children are offering are both components of communicating that can lead to conversations that give you a great deal of insight as to how your children feel.
Instead of talking all the time and asking a lot of questions that might make your child shut down, take the time to listen to what your child has to say. If your child doesn’t feel pressured to talk to you, then there will likely be more communication at the dinner table and at other times during the day. Your child will likely want to get your advice and tell you about things that happen with friends or at school.
Avoid trying to solve all of the problems that your child has, letting him learn from mistakes. However, if you see that there could be a dangerous situation present or that there could be an issue that could pose harm to your child or someone else, then it might be a good idea to intervene. Let your child know that you understand their feelings and that you’re there for support instead of being negative all the time about situations in life.
Your child usually wants you to show that your trust the decisions that are made. Show your child a bit of freedom. If your child demonstrates that there can be communication between the two of you and that you can trust each other, then there will be other situations that arise where it will be easier to talk to each other and show that you trust each other instead of one or the other. Try not to be too overbearing. If you show that you aren’t going to let your child do anything and that there’s no reason to talk to each other, then it could open the door for your child to do something rebellious or something that you don’t like.
Offer praise to your child, even if the actions aren’t always exactly perfect. You need to demonstrate that you enjoy the effort and that you are noticing the things that are taking place that are good instead of always looking for the bad. Avoid getting angry easily. Sit down with your child to discuss options that are available and the reasons why decisions were made as this will make it easier to talk in the future.
