Tuesday, August 18, 2009

How to Get Your Child to Tell You What's on Their Mind

I'm sharing this from my personal experience raising two wonderful boys on my own. Have you ever wanted to know what was on your child's mind but there seemed to be a block with the child in really telling you what was bothering them. Maybe your child had a bad day at school, or something one of their siblings is doing that is bothering them. Maybe for whatever reason they just don't know how to express what's on their mind.

Raising two boys at times I could tell something was bothering one but when I asked they would say nothing. Now I'm talking about children that were between the ages of about 4 to 7. So one night I was putting them to bed and and all three of us would lie there in bed with me in the middle and arms around them and I knew something was wrong between them so I thought why not start singing a tune like we always did at night but this time I made it a game.

I said to them hey I'm going to sing a song but instead of singing exactly as the lyrics go I'm going to put in stuff that made me happy or that bothered me that day. So I'd start signing along and then somewhere in the song I might sing I was happy that Travis picked up his clothes this morning. Maybe next time I'd add Travis made me mad today because he left the door open. Whatever the point is to use your imagination and make a game out of what is bothering you in the song. Then when it was their turn to sing they can do the same thing. What I found out was because they were thinking of it as a game and the lyrics to the song distracted them to I guess they would add in what was bothering them.

It's not an exact technique I know. I'm not some Child Doctor but it worked for me. Get creative I think the point is if you add an activity that helps distract the child a bit and make it fun and they are more willing to share with what's on their mind.

Hi Folks,

Nothing special about me. My greatest claim to fame is being a single father. I raised two wonderful boys on my own since they were 5 and 6. Now they are 27 and 28 grown men. I'm very proud of them. Since I'm semi-retired well I work online at home when I want to, I thought I'd start sharing some of the good things that I have experienced to those that might be considering them. Hope this article will be of help. If you ever want to know more about my experience you can always get a hold of me at http://www.whoispat.com

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