The Lessons in Listening to Our Children

"While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about."

Author: Angela Schwindt

Try writing down some lessons your children have taught you. It all starts with listening to our children, not the uh huh, yeah, sure kind of listening but the really listening kind. Do you ever feel like you are already formulating the lecture in your head as you are listening to your child talk about a problem or a concern? Any chance you could let those thoughts go and open up space to fully take in what your child is saying? Take a moment and ask your child how she feels about the situation. What does he think would be a good solution to the problem at hand? And then and only then, ask if she wants your advice. But hopefully he won't need it because he has figured out the problem on his own. And the more she does this, the more adept she will be at problem solving. Because you listened, you respected him, and you allowed her to feel empowered by her own ability to think critically, you were given the gift of learning how your child makes sense of people and the world around him. 

"When they were very small, I suppose I thought someday they would become who they were because of what I'd done. Now I suspect they simply grew into their true 

selves because they demanded in a thousand ways that I back off and let them be." (Author Anna Quindlan)