Tag Archives: listening

The Importance of Listening

How could I possibly resist listening to this adorable angel? My daughter’s smile can light up a room, but her insanely long recaps of lunchroom drama between five girls, a shoe, a note and some other item that I have no earthly idea about, are far from illuminating. In fact, her convoluted conspectuses often make my ears burn, though the pain could actually be my brain frying, as I try to decipher what green socks and Eggplant Parmesan  have to do with how she fared on Friday’s spelling test. I try to make sense of it all, but I’m old. … Continue reading →

Getting Your Kids to Listen to You

I’ve been a little frustrated with my son lately. It seems like I have to ask him ten times to do anything, and even then he still won’t do it. He’s unbelievably stubborn; and too smart for his own good. That whole reverse psychology thing doesn’t work with him anymore. I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve lost my cool with him before when he won’t do what he’s told, much less acknowledge that he’s even been asked to do anything. He’s a pro at ignoring. After our nightly shower battle, I finally decided to do a little research … Continue reading →

What’s the Most Important Parenting Skill?

  Patience, forgiveness, empathy?  What is the most important parenting skill? Good parenting isn’t presented to us at baby showers or as a parting gift from hospital staff following 21 hours of labor.  So, how do you acquire the skills needed to raise decent human beings?  Moreover, what are the most important qualities needed to ensure your child is able to grow into a valuable member of society? Patience:  Wash, dry, fold, break up fights, chauffeur, shop, cook, clean, repeat… over and over again.  After years of this monotony it’s no wonder many parents find it challenging to be patient … Continue reading →

Please Just Listen

Sometimes the worst thing you can possibly say to someone is “I know exactly what you mean” and then launch into the reason that you know exactly what they mean. It’s never the same and when you are a single mother and your married friends say they know how it feels because their husband works too much or isn’t involved enough with the kids, it seems to negate what you go through on a regular basis. So many times I’ve been talking with a married friend and I’m frustrated at having to do this alone so I need to vent … Continue reading →

Listening to Your Kids

Today I took my two girls with me on some errands. We were busy running from place to place. One of the places we went was a church. While I was taking care of some things at the church the girls saw some toys and other items they wanted. I was immediately resistive, but listened as they explained why they wanted a particular item. My 8-year-old, who is quite persistent, wanted to get a journal. I told the girls that if they took any new item with them, they must give away two things from home. Like many other homes … Continue reading →

Can You Facilitate Instead of Lecture?

I have written before about my challenges as a parent of trying NOT to lecture too much. It just seems to come naturally—we parents have so much we want to say and we expect that our children should want to hear it. The lecture, however, is a big turn-off! It is a surefire way to make sure that our children totally tune out what we are trying to say. Now that my kids are older, they have confessed that when a parent gets that “lecture” tone, they just go on auto-pilot and do not listen to what is being said. … Continue reading →

Show an Interest in What People Do and Say

We periodically talk about different communication techniques tips for building relationships with prospects, clients, customers and colleagues here in the Home Business blog. After all, even if your small business has you interacting with only a few people, how you interact is still going to be crucial. A key communication technique that you can apply to any area of your life is to show a genuine interest in what others do and say. You notice that I stuck the word “genuine” in there? That means that people can tell the difference between someone who is actually listening to what they … Continue reading →

Finding Balance between Talking and Listening

It is no secret that one of the foundations of good parenting is communication. We have to be able to talk to our children and understand them (as well as have them understand us) in order to have any influence over them at all. It may seem as though the parent who talks the loudest and the longest would have the advantage, but being able to listen is equally important. In fact, achieving a balance between talking and listening is a good rule of thumb for any communication challenge or relationship. Listening is not just about saying “Uh huh” at … Continue reading →

Teaching Children How to be Good Listeners

I think that the best communicators I know are those people who are the best listeners. Having good social skills and being a strong communicator does not mean that we talk longer and louder than anyone else or that we jump into conversations with everyone. We can teach our children how to listen and how to be good listeners, and their communication and social skills will improve… Good listening schools do not just pay off in improved communication. Children and individuals who are good listeners are also better learners in school since they are able to absorb the information being … Continue reading →

Those Customers or Clients who just don’t Listen

We all know those people—whatever is going on in their own heads while someone is trying to explain something to them or share information is far more important than paying attention. Either they are thinking of something else, or they may interrupt and try to get the conversation onto their own agenda, or they might just forget and not be very good at retaining information. Regardless of the reason, many of us find we have at least one client or customer who we swear is just not listening to anything we might be saying. In my experience, some of these … Continue reading →