1. INTRODUCTION:

Earn your child’s trust by developing open, effective communication with your child. Communicating with your child is a two way street. As a parent, you must be able to talk, but you must be a great listener. Hear both the description of events that your child is communicating and also tune in and acknowledge the emotions your child is feeling.

You create the security and trust for effective, open parent-child communication when you allow your child to express himself fully, focus completely on her, listen, and  respond by addressing both the content(“this is what happened”) and the emotions(“this is how it made me feel”).

Begin listening to and communicating with your child early on. This will serve you both well during your child’s teen years, when communication may become more difficult- your child will know she can come to you with anything and you will listen and help her solve the problem effectively.

The following ideas are some tips for communicating effectively with your child:

• Focus and listen to your child:  effective listening is not a passive activity but a very active one. Being a good parent means being a great listener.
• Respect your child: as the authority in his or her life experience.
• Listen to and understand your child’s perception and understanding of situations and people. By understanding your child’s experiences, perceptive, and temperament, you can better know your child and better help your child the right decisions, interact well with others and build self-esteem.