From the adorable pronouncements of toddlers, to wise insights from our adult children, talking with our kids can be an absolute joy….or a total horrorshow. Every parent remembers a day when our three-year-old wouldn’t stop crying, our middle schooler gave us a three-day silent treatment, or we screwed up when talking with a teen about coming home three hours after curfew.
Communication is one of the most important safety skills we can learn and apply as parents, because communication is how we learn about many dangers, and how we teach our kids how to avoid or overcome them. It’s an art and a science some people spend entire professional lifetimes beginning to understand.
We can go wide and deep into this topic, but today I want to share 5 simple communication techniques so powerful they’re basically Jedi Mind tricks. They’re easy to learn, not that hard to use, and can make a surprising difference starting right now.