One of the most important parenting skills is to be a great listener. Why? Because, if you listen well, your kids will talk. The more they talk, the more they will reveal of what they are thinking and feeling. As Christian parents, what they say is even more vital, because it gives us clues how to strengthen their faith foundation and help mold their hearts towards God.
Yet, communication is one of the biggest struggles most parents face. Most of us have developed communication skills which are sloppy at best. In our defense, this is often because we had very little actual training in communication and default to what we picked up somehow along the way. Often these poor habits cause issues as we parent our children. The rifts they cause can become even greater as our kids reach their teen years.
So, I was really interested when offered the opportunity to review the new book How to Listen So People Will Talk by Becky Harling. This isn’t the first book on the topic. In fact, Amazon is filled with books with similar sounding titles and topics. I can’t speak to the others, but I loved this volume.
Who knows when it really starts. Maybe it’s after that first kid on the playground bops them on the head or the first child takes their toy away without asking. At some point though, kids begin to learn that not everyone is as big of a fan as their parents and grandparents. In fact, pretty early on most kids realize that some kids are really mean and will do and say ugly things to them for no apparent reason at all.
Hopefully, one of your top priorities as a Christian parent is getting your kids to not only read the Bible independently, but to enjoy and value it, too. In the past, this was so difficult to do. Most of us found the vocabulary in the Bible challenging to understand. Many of us had started reading from the Bible in Genesis, only to lose interest and quit around Numbers. How can we encourage our kids to do something we struggled with ourselves?
A few weeks ago my favorite deli was testing key lime lemonade. The first time I saw the sign, I had already ordered an iced tea. The next time, I noticed the sign, but wasn’t sure I wanted the calories, so decided to wait until my next visit to splurge. You guessed it. The next time I went in it was gone. I was really disappointed. I am a key lime fan and loved the idea. It was only a test product though and I may never again get the chance to taste that key lime lemonade.