Continuing our series on keeping the lines of communication open with our kids, here is the third set of comments about talking to your kids…anywhere.

TALK ABOUT ANYTHING ANYWHERE

When I was young, the big thing was the ‘family meeting’. This is when the family sets time aside to all sit in the living room or the kitchen and discuss thing. It didn’t always have to be bad stuff or major things, it could be just everyday catching up things; but most of the times these ‘meetings’ come about when someone is in trouble. BIG trouble! When mom or dad says, “get everybody together. We need to talk.” You know YOU’RE IN TROUBLE!

It doesn’t have to be like that anymore. When you make it a habit to talk to your kids all the time and anywhere, then it becomes easier for them to start talking back too. For us who have busy lives, we know how important those few minutes in the car or the moments wandering the grocery aisles are.These are pockets of time when my girls and I like to catch up on what’s been going on in our day. We don’t always have time to set aside and ‘talk’ instead, we talk on the go and on the run. The great thing about this is, we develop a habit of talking so that when the big ‘sit down’ conversations come up, we are already used to talking to each other.

Sometimes all you have to do is start talking. Talk about anything and eventually something will trigger your children to open up about a subject they are concerned about but that you may not have even though to ask about. Here are more comments from our Communicate With Your Kids giveaway.

Jennifer/Connect with your Teens Says:
Even when my kids are busy with their friends and don’t seem to have time to talk to me, I can always get a great conversation out of them if I bring up one of our favorite TV shows, or a new song one of them loves, etc. I find that by enjoying and being interested in the same things that they are, really helps give us much more to talk about.

sandra Says:
we talk to the kids in the car, at dinner, and just before bed, keeping communication open. i also try not to avoid answering “tough” questions so that they feel at ease about subjects that could become difficult.

Jennifer C. Says:
My kids are too young for cell phones (though my 9 year old asks for one) but when she wants to walk to her friends house around the corner she takes the walkie talkie radios so she can let me know when she gets there and when she is coming home. She knows she can ask us any questions she has about anything and we will answer her honestly. She also knows that lying is a big no-no and punishments are much larger if they are caught in a lie.

 
 
The How to Talk to Your Kids Series:
1. Eat Together
2. Individual Time
3. Talk About Anything Anywhere
4. Learn Their World
5. Start Them Young
6. Listen, Don’t Judge and Be Honest

7. Unique Conversation Starters
 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 8th, 2009 at 1:54 pm and is filed under children, family, parenting, Teens. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.