Want your child to be successful? Help him develop communication skills
Effective communication is the cornerstone of a happy and successful life. Your child starts expressing himself from the time of birth through the first cry that announces his arrival. Gradually, the communication evolves through different stages of development as your little one interacts with you, his siblings and at a later stage with his peers and teachers. The necessity to articulate thoughts in an effective manner becomes very important in the lifecycle of a student as he grows up. The ability to communicate efficiently is an essential skill that a student needs to develop, be it for participating in a debate competition and making a class presentation or appearing for a job interview during the later stage of life. Here, we guide you on ways to hone this skill during the formative years of your child’s life.
Engage your kid in two-sided conversations
This is very crucial to develop communication skills. Have your child talk to you instead of just listening to what you say, allowing her the comfort zone to open up. Here are ways to create talking opportunities for your kid:
- Ask about her day at school, asking her about
- Plan to cook a meal together and encourage her to talk about the ingredients and how to get them
- Make a travel plan together and ask for her suggestions
- Start conversation about a topical event and get her into talking about what she thinks about it
Read together
Start the tradition of reading story books to each other before hitting the bed at night. Let your child choose a book of his interest. This will not only improve his vocabulary but also enhance his analytical skills, required for effective communication. It doesn’t matter what you read with your child. What’s most important is that you do it together. If you’re concerned that your child chooses the same books every night, don’t be. Your child is developing a better understanding of the character and plots and vocabulary used.
Help your child form opinions
Involving kids in matters that require opinions and decisions help them become eloquent speakers. You can ask her something as simple as this: “Which of the two books that you read this week did you like the most?” You can also involve her in simple decisions about the special weekend menu, or the best online library to subscribe to. All these will go a long way in helping your child express herself and articulate her thoughts better.
Encourage him to maintain a journal
Jotting down thoughts in a diary will give better clarity to your kids allowing them to share all of it in an effective manner. Being prepared with talking points and well-formed thoughts before a conversation will make him feel confident as well.
Plan activities that boost communication
Engaging your school child in fun games like show and tell or picture story telling can be good ways of honing communication skills. Agree on a fun topic as a family and then have everyone speak for a minute or so about it. Also, sharing a picture with your kids and having them describe it in detail (characters, colours, etc.) is a good way of encouraging efficient communication. Encouraging them to make short presentations and extempore speeches at home are also good for developing oral skills.
Develop listening skills
Paying attention to what others are saying is essential for developing sound communication skills. In order to inculcate listening skills in your child, you need to be a good listener as a parent. Don’t be distracted with your work or gadgets when your kids talk to you. Pay attention and make them feel that you are actually interested in what they are saying. Asking a few questions in the middle of a conversation will be good. Remember, children learn best from their parents. So, be a role model to them. Also, resist the urge to blame, criticise or correct grammatical errors as they speak.