Get your Children Talking - An Easy Way to Open the Door
July 2nd, 2007 by admin
Get your Children Talking - An Easy Way to Open the Door
By Elle McGugan
Article Word Count: 453
Article Submitted On: June 01, 2007
It is common knowledge that the ability to communicate develops throughout one’s life. Therefore, it could easily be concluded that younger children may have a great level of difficulty coming to their parents with complicated issues or problems that may be bothering them.
When my children were younger, I would sometimes notice that they seemed to be having an off day. Whether it was because of the look on their faces, their interaction with their sibling or simply wanting to stay in their rooms rather than join the family for the evening, it was clear that something was amiss.
When I would ask them about it, I most often got the same exact answer…..”nothing’s wrong.” Knowing that this statement wasn’t true, I came up with a solution that worked for us not only while they were young children, but we continue to exercise a version of it to this day.
My idea was based on the possibility that they simply did not have the awareness or vocabulary to initiate the conversation. I believed that my children indeed wanted to discuss their issues with me, but that the idea of doing so was somehow overwhelming.
To conquer this problem, the three of us sat down together and created a “Worry Box” for each of them that they could keep tucked away somewhere in their rooms. Their job was to write me a note giving me as much information as they comfortably could. My job was to check the boxes each day and approach them to initiate the conversation.
Somehow, the safety of beginning these conversations with me without worrying about how to word it or how I might initially react enabled them to unload their struggles onto that little piece of paper time and time again. At times, I read nothing more than, “Ask me about math class.” At other times, I would find pages and pages filled with angst and worry.
However, each and every time without fail, when I came to them, they were ready to talk about what was bothering them. We started doing this when they were in primary school and the boxes remained in their rooms until the day they each left for college. I can’t imagine all of the wonderful discussions and opportunities for guiding them I may have missed over the years without our little system. We all learned to trust and respect each other and neither of my children ever felt alone or unable to come to me.
Now that they are in college, I still get the occasional message from them letting me know that we need to talk. Only now, instead of calling it the “Worry Box,” we call it my “In Box.”
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Copyright June 2007
Article Source: EzineArticles.com