Communicating with Children

Kids, especially young kids communicated differently from us adults. Sometimes they find it hard to verbalize how they feel. In this case, you have to find other ways to try to understand on they feel. For a younger child, perhaps you could give them a piece of paper and tell them to …

“Draw me a picture of how you feel today”

For an older child, you could give them a piece of paper and ask them to…

“Write down how you feel today”

You may be surprised or amused to see the results.

I remember, how quickly time has passed. Last year, my boy was sick and  hospitalized for a week after Chinese New Year. When he was discharged and came home, he was so happy but he didn’t say (verbally in words) that he was happy. He made little cards, stuffed them into angpow papers and gave one each to all the family members. In it, he drew pictures of the sun shining and birds flying in the sky and he wrote….

“I am happy today. The sun is out. It is a nice day.”

For my son, it is very easy to communicate with him because his love language is touch. All I need to do is give him a cuddle and he is happy.

For my daughter, her love language is quality time. To communicate effectively with her, I have to really listen to her with no distractions. Then she feels loved and contented.

I think we have to understand our children, listen and talk to them in the manner in which they are most comfortable in, in order to communicate effectively with them.