Lecture Notes on Child Communication and Active Listening

Introduction

• Topic: Understanding children's behavior and improving communication.
• Focus: Addressing bedwetting and listening to children’s concerns.

Addressing Bedwetting

• Ensure no medical issues are present.
• If persistent, it may indicate a child's emotional expression or need.

Discussing Listening and Communication with Children

• Scenario: A parent facing challenges with a six-year-old daughter’s behavior.
• Common belief: Behavioral issues are often seen as just a phase.

Concept of Active Listening

• Definition: Encouraging children to express themselves without parental bias.
• Goal: Understand children’s feelings and perspectives.

Role-playing Exercise

• Participants: Ray and Debra, a fictional scenario with a daughter refusing to visit her grandma.
• Objective: Practice active listening techniques.

Exercise Dialogue

• Scenario: Daughter doesn’t want to visit Grandma on her birthday.

  • Ray’s initial approach: Direct demands and lack of emotional acknowledgment.
  • Feedback: Avoid discussing sensitive topics like mortality.
  • Proper response: Reflect the child’s feelings (e.g., "You feel you don’t have control over plans").

• Continuing Exercise

  • Child: Prefer going to the park over the party.
  • Ray’s improved response: Acknowledges the child's feelings about the party being boring.
  • Mistake: Reverting to parental demands and authority.

Key Learnings

• Reflect back feelings instead of enforcing authority.
• Avoiding threats as a means of coercion.
• Importance of practicing emotional reflection.

Conclusion

• Class ended with a request for Ray and Debra to stay back for further discussion.
• Importance of mastering active listening to improve parent-child relationships.