Director’s Blog – Apr 2018

Director’s Blog – Apr 2018

“Children may not always listen to you, but they will most surely imitate you.”

Wow!  That is a potentially scary statement!  Could it be that children are not good listeners because they do not see the adults around them modeling good listening or training them how to be an active listener? Maybe, just maybe… we as adults are not good listeners.

Are we being the listener we want our children to be?  In our busy adult world, I think most of us could admit that we are not always very tuned in to our children. It seems to me that we are inventing more and more ways of tuning out rather than tuning in.  We listen passively, rather than actively. We speak volumes to our children with our words, but our eye contact, body language, and follow through on things promised and consistency in discipline, shout more loudly than our “talking head.”

If you have a hard time getting your children to listen to you, I would encourage some active communication such as:

-Getting down at their level and looking them in the eye,

-Acknowledging them respectfully so they know you heard them

-Putting down your cell phone to draw them closer to you

-Making the commitment and sacrifice of time to fulfill promises made and     following through on needed training/discipline.

Rather than to expect too much from your children or give up and not expect anything at all from them, I would encourage you to become who we want our children to be.  When that happens, our children will exceed our expectations!  We might find more joy and peace in life as well!

Just a thought…

Blessings are everywhere…sometimes we just have to listen for them!

Teresa Brophy

Director, Prince of Peace School

   503-645-1211School Office