Do We Talk Too Much??

Okay, I have never been one that has been accused of talking too much. Usually my wife says I don't talk enough. I am pretty good at answering a question with a direct answer, but am working hard on expounding for my wife to get to the details. For instance, if I am asked "How was work today?" I am fine with the answer - "good." I am learning that the real heart of the question is, "Will you tell me about what happened to you at work today since I have been by myself all day and need adult conversation?"

However, when it comes to disciplining, I have found that I do way more talking than listening. I could relate to the illustration in this week's lesson of the son saying, "Dad, we really didn't have a good talk, because I didn't say anything." Sometimes we feel that we have accomplished something and all we have done is vent to our kids. As parents, many times we are guilty of the extremes when it comes to discipline. Either we react out of anger and discipline right away without communicating at all or we lecture about the issue and accomplish nothing except making ourselves feel better.

I look at parents of teenagers who talk freely and openly with their kids and there is a mutual love and respect. They do not have that relationship because of a lack of discipline but because discipline was always combined with two-way communication. That means asking the right questions and letting them tell me what is in their heart. How else as a parent will I know how to guide the heart?

So, do you talk too much? For all of you parents of children under 3, practice now with the multiple choice questions. Once they have that full vocabulary and can talk back and talk back and talk back, you will wish you had not been so reactive but proactive.