Positive Communication With Children: Strategy for Effective Parenting and Child Development

By Dr. Namita Shenai-Vadhavkar - Updated: February 25, 2019

Communication is an integral and unique feature of humans. It is the only way we learn to interact with others. When a baby is born it cries. This is the first step in communication. There are verbal and nonverbal means of communicating. Verbal is through use of language and nonverbal is through facial expressions, gestures and physical prompts. Babies pick up language after learning cooing, babbling and pointing.

Language development is an effective criteria for interaction with others. When we speak to our children we need to imbibe positive thoughts,feelings through our expressions and words. This creates a pathway for holistic parenting. We need to be specific about the pitch and tone of our voice when we speak with our children. We need to be aware of their needs in every situation. The use of harsh and derogatory words is frequently modelled by them easily. A common situation is when we react to a negative word used by our child and that creates a chain of difficult situations with behaviour concerns. Hence remaining calm and stress free helps parents to initiate effective communication with their child.

A fruitful way of interaction is being supportive and praising your child when they greet people, initiate discussions. This boosts their self respect. It also improves their emotional well being. Emotionally stable children are more focused and more adaptable to change.
We need to talk is the need of the hour. Spend some time everyday and speak to them. Ask them how was their day and how did they feel. If your child is older ask them to write down about their day. This form of expression is a stress buster.

Positive communication is also catered through play. Play is a very powerful mode of interaction. It creates a loop of positivity between the child and the parents and also with peers.

Parents need to foster frequent peer interactions for improving social interaction and communication. A positive feedback through timely gestures like a hug and pat on the back and also through emotions such as laughing together and smiling is extremely important.

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