The bottom line of talking with your kids is to simply TALK. Start talking when they’re young, talk wherever you are and whatever you’re doing. Keep talking until you’re blue in the face and one day they will listen and it will all be worth it.

As important as talking, you also need to learn when to shut up and listen. I’m learning that we all need space but especially teenagers. Sometimes they just don’t feel like talking. Sometimes it’s enough that they are sitting in the same room as you.

UNIQUE CONVERSATION STARTERS

It’s easy to say just start talking but it’s not always easy to do. Sometimes we have to find other ways to get the conversation going. Some of the comments on our post about communicating with your kids generated a collection of unique and creative ideas to kick start communication with your kids.
Read the rest of this entry »

Continuing with our series on communicating with your kids, this time we’ll be talking about listening instead of talking.
 

LISTEN, DON’T JUDGE AND BE HONEST – GIVE THEM SPACE

And most of all, stay calm. I know our first instinct usually is to protect them from what we know is surely impending mistakes. But, especially with older children, we have to realize that they have to find their own way and we can’t always fix everything in their lives. Sometimes we just have to be there to catch them when they fall.

Here are more comments from other moms and moms to be:
Read the rest of this entry »

START THEM YOUNG

Raising kids is a time sensitive activity. You have but a few years to influence the individuals your children will grow up to be. The earlier you start doing things like communicating with them, the better. Like everything we do, we do it better when we’re used to it and we’ve been doing it a long time. When you start them young it becomes a habit to talk about anything and everything.

Continuing on our series about communicating with your kids, here are more comments from parents based on the question we asked recently, “How you keep the lines of communication open with your children as they grow older and gain more freedom?”

Read the rest of this entry »

Continuing our series on communicating with your kids, today let’s talk about their world.

LEARN THEIR WORLD

Our children live in a technology driven world and it is where they are most comfortable communicating. Learn to navigate their world and you’ll be surprised at what you can learn. Here’s more comments from other parents on how they communicate with their kids using the tools that they are familiar with.
Read the rest of this entry »