How to teach children to listen carefully

One of the things that parents struggle with is making children listen. You may find yourself repeating something over and over again, for example, saying, "How many times have I told you not to do this..!" This is the worst way to make children realize their mistake because they will start counting the number of times that they have disobeyed. This will be contrary to what you are trying to tell them.

When you repeat yourself so many times you may start believing that there is no other way to make them listen to you. Listening skills are one of the first things that should be taught to your child because without it he may not become as successful as he can when he grows up. Poor listening skills can lead to several failures later in life, which is why it is crucial to have good listening skills.

One of the most common methods to teach listening skills to children is by repeating the same instruction over and over again. This may not be the best way to inculcate good listening skills in your children. Given below are some creative methods of improving listening skills:

• You may hear yourself saying very frequently, "Stop it and listen to what I have to say!" Children may innocently become too absorbed in what they are doing sometimes and fail to hear you, especially if they have noisy toys. In such a case it may be better to go near your child and speak to them so that they can hear you properly. When they find you standing next to them they will be automatically drawn to what you are saying.

• Before issuing instructions to your child try to seek their attention first by appreciating something, maybe a drawing that they are engaged in etc. If they are being appreciated it will set them in a mood for listening to what you are telling them.

• Questions like "How many times have I told you...!" are not of much use because the child tries to remember the number of times that he has been told rather than what you told them. Instead of confusing the child speak to him and explain what is wrong. Do not speak in an angry or aggressive tone but in a soothing manner which will make your child think through his wrongdoing and resolve not to do it again.

• You might be using a term "sounding like a broken record" when you admonish your children. Being a term belonging to an era that passed decades ago, young kids may not even know what a record is leave alone knowing about a broken record. Besides the word broken may carry negative connotations. If you find that your children are not doing their work properly bring it upon yourself to motivate them so that they do it out of their own free will. One way to do this is by making a game out of it and encouraging them to play.

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