Besides inculcating good habits and values in the children, parents must also make sure that they develop basic skills from the very beginning. One such skill that is crucial for the child’s adequate development is listening skills.
Listening skills is a soft skill that gives one the ability to pay attention and interpret the message in a communication. Throughout life, one is required to have great listening skills in order to achieve effective communication and have normal social life.
However, these soft skills are difficult to acquire later in life, thus, it is of vital importance that children develop them in their childhood itself. Parents play a crucial role here. Experts believe that most children should start developing listening skills before they start primary school.
Every child needs to learn to focus on listening and pay attention to what is being said or played. Parents can make use of different ways to develop and enhance these skills in their children. Some of these techniques and methods are listed below.
Reading activities
Storytelling can be an amazing way to improve your child’s listening skills while keeping them intrigued. Parents can read out a story to their toddler, preferably the ones that they like. But, it must be a two-way process. Parents should pause in between the story and ask simple questions to their child to make sure they are listening.
Discussions
Engage in discussions with your kid on enticing topics and seek their inputs on them. You can ask the child about his day at school, his friends, or whatever he finds interesting. Try to bridge the communication gap between you and the child, if any.
Work on yourself too
While parents must strive to improve the listening skills of their children, experts advised that even parents should be attentive. A child feels valued if his parents listen to him and in return, he also reciprocates and pays attention to his parents. This will build a strong relationship between the parents and the kid.
Other activities
There are several activities you can indulge in with your kids that will help enhance their listening skills gradually. Making use of technology, you can together listen to audiobooks with your child and may consider asking him to narrate the events once it is over. You can make them play specific games that are focussed around listening. This would be enjoyable for them and will have a learning outcome as well.
Pro tips
To make sure that your child not just hears but listens to you, parents must keep certain points in mind.
- Always address your children by their name.
- Make sure to use a positive language.
- Use words like ‘thank you’ and ‘please’ more often.
- Assign small tasks and assignments.
- Try to elicit a response through conversations.
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