5 Top Communication Traps



Image source

One of the aspects of being a parent that I find extremely frustrating is communication failure.  It drives me nuts when my child(ren) do not hear, do not acknowledge, or do not respond to my words.  Sometimes the failure is the child's lack of obedience.  However, far more often, the failure occurs on my part.

O Come, O Come Immanuel

Only in the past two years have I really been aware of the season of Advent.  As a child, December was all about finishing the school year (exams, reports, end-of-year excursions), putting up the Christmas tree and Nativity set, sweating in the first few really hot days of summer, and reading lots and lots of books that I had been unable to start during term.

William P Young: The Shack: Thoughts on Marriage

The Shack, by William P Young, is the story of a man's relationship with God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  The trigger for the man's dialogue with God is the tragic abduction of his daughter, but don't let the grim opening put you off.  This slim book is packed full of hope, surprising joy, and boundless, heart-changing love, all presented through the man's dialogue with the visible, present, communicative, loving, Tri-une God.

I bought this book some years ago, and have re-read it a few times.  Each time I read it, different thoughts linger in the days that follow:

Walking, Not Soaring

Image source

This week has been different.  Rather than soaring on wings like eagles, I have been walking without growing faint.  Plodding along, maintaining the discipline of early rising and prayer, but without the thrills of the first fortnight.

On the first morning, I wondered if I had done something wrong.

Now, I believe that it is just another cycle of unreliable emotion, influenced by poor eating, late nights, and lots to do. 

This was confirmed today when I had the opportunity to minister in prayer for a dear friend of mine, and sensed Holy Spirit present to meet the need.

I know that I will again experience the thrill of soaring; but for now, I choose to simply turn up.

Do you go through ups and downs in your prayer life?  What do believe is the main cause for this? How do you handle it?

Skills Training 4: Task Planning and Execution

Distracted (image source)

One of my children finds it difficult to plan and execute tasks in a timely manner.  In short, this child is easily distracted.  This is a problem both at home, and at school, so we have been working with this child for about two years now on this one issue. 

Because of this, I have become more pro-active in training planning and execution skills with my other children as well.  This is very much a work in progress, as I am continually experimenting and learning strategies for training purposes, but here are some things I have learned along the way:

Skills Training 3: Pre-school and School-Aged Speech and Language

Image source

Continuing my series on Skills Training, this post discusses strategies that you, the parent, can implement to support your preschool and school-aged child's speech and language development. 

This post assumes that your preschooler has achieved age-appropriate speech and language skills.  If not, or if your child stutters, please seek professional help, as delay in treatment makes problems harder to overcome.  You may also wish to read my post on Early Speech and Language Skills Training.

Skills Training 2: Early Speech and Language



Image source



All children learn speech via modelling. Many children do not require any help in addition to this modelling, and will pick up sounds, words, and increasingly complex language without any difficulty. 

However, children who are not progressing, or who are progressing very slowly, do need professional help, and the earlier they get it, the more quickly they will overcome this early hiccup.

Caveat: I want to be very clear here that I am not a qualified teacher or speech therapist, but that I am writing as a mother with experience of speech therapy.  Most therapy sessions that I have attended require language skills to be worked on at home, and most of the tips I offer here have been gleaned from these therapy sessions.  Sally Ward's Baby Talk is an additional resource which has been extremely helpful.
 
The remainder of this post discusses what you, the parent, can do to support your child's early speech and language development.