There are very few parents who do not desire to raise the best children they can raise, but while most thoughts toward “raising great children” deal with raising children who make good choices, and who have happy, successful lives, one of the big aspects of raising great children (in fact, one of the catalysts toward those other areas) is raising children who know how to communicate effectively. One of the big mistakes a lot of parents make is that they assume their children will naturally gain good communication skills as they get older, but for most children, good communication must be taught to them by their parents rather than learned through observation and conditioning.

At the core of good communication is the idea of showing politeness and gratitude through “please” and “thank you”; again, it will be important for you to realize that children will not simply “pick up on” the fact that they should say “please” and “thank you,” but that this behavior will have to be taught to them by their parents – that is, by you!

Children also have a tendency to look anywhere but at the person to whom they are speaking, and to exude the sense that they are “trying to get away” when an adult is talking to them, but while this is passable for a while, it will carry over into adulthood if you do not train it out of them; the best way to make sure your children leave this path is to have your children tell you, after they have had a conversation with an adult, what color eyes the adult has!

Finally, you will find that most children have a tendency to answer questions from adults with a “yes” or a “no” (or at least, with the shortest answer possible), but you should practice your children at responding to questions with full sentences, and at following up their answers by listening to what the other person has to say.

It can be a long road to train your children in these things, but when your children grow up and are able to carry themselves in the manner of respectable adults, you will also realize that the time and effort spent was more than worth it!

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