FAMILY LIFE
Having incredible conversations with your child By Jane Gilmour and Bettina Hohnen You: How was your day? Your Child: Fine. Want something a bit more? Timing. Try not to pounce on your child with questions straight after school or nursery. Kids often need time to decompress. Wait and read the room. Start conversations when they are rested and well fed. Setting. Many kids find face-to-face talking a bit intense. Weave your conversations into another activity eg when they are drawing.
and so on - the top of the mountain is the best, the bottom is the worst.
Expectations. Learning to communicate meaningfully together is a skill that takes time to build. Not all conversations will go smoothly Get real. Pre-teen children find but, in time, if your bids are gentle abstract concepts difficult and often and genuine, your relationship will don’t have the vocabulary to reflect thrive. their experiences. If you want to find out how your child is, draw a READ MORE mountain. Ask your child to use the mountain to show how they are feeling today, how they feel usually Truly communicating with your child is a great privilege for a parent. More than that, building a strong relationship with them improves their quality of life by protecting their mental and physical health. How to Have Incredible Conversations With Your Child by clinical psychologists Jane Gilmour and Bettina Hohnen can help you further with this. Familiesonline.co.uk
March/April 21
