5 Tips To Improve Communication In The Family

The family should be a space where parents and children can talk and communicate. But on many occasions due to the rush of daily life or other circumstances, we do not maintain fluid communication in the family.  

Each family is different and has its own special way of communicating. It is good to establish a time a day to talk, such as breakfast or dinner. If that space for communication does not exist, the family will be difficult to find out about the children’s problems and be able to help them.

A good idea is that you stop to reflect on how you relate to each other in your family. Do you talk sometime in the day? Do you always listen to children when they raise a problem? Do you think your way of communicating can be improved?

If after asking yourself these questions, you discover that communication in your family can be improved, do not hesitate and try to change it. We are going to explain 5 simple tips to improve communication in the family .

Listen to your children

Our first advice is that you always listen to your child. Children often talk uncontrollably. They make us dizzy with diverse stories in which sometimes we don’t know if they are fantasy or reality. Listen to what is being told and try to discern what worries them and if it is a problem.

Do not silence them or tell them to tell you later without a specific time. Surely that later will not come and you will not know if it was important. A good idea is to explain that you are very busy and have them tell you in 10 minutes. It is important to find the right time to talk with the children.

Don’t let them try to shut you up when you’re talking to other adults, either. Explain that you will talk about it when you have finished your conversation with that person. If you don’t tell them, you will feel overwhelmed and uncomfortable. Children have to learn when is the best time to speak and when to keep quiet.

Understand their emotions

Our children express their emotions, their doubts, their joys and their problems in their conversations. Before expressing your opinion, let them tell you everything they need. If you immediately react negatively to a comment or attitude that you do not like, you will soon stop telling you things about which you are going to get angry.

Even if you don’t share their attitude or point of view, listen to them before you comment and put yourself in their place. Try to be accessible to your children when they need it. It also has the language that children and adolescents use right now and tries to understand before giving an opinion.

Try to reason and establish communication

If every time the children throw a question at you we answer in the same way, they will think that we are downplaying their problems. They may also think that we are giving them the same sermon every time. Change your discourse and give them examples to explain your answer. Try to communicate with them in a way that they understand your response and is effective.

Flee from guilt

One of the great mistakes of parents and many adults is to always look for the culprit in any problem. Try to listen to your child and also to the other party, be it his brother or a friend. The important thing is to talk about the problem and see how to fix it. The ultimate goal is to avoid conflicts that can drag on into the future.

Set limits

We have to listen to our children but it is important to set limits and rules. They have to know which issues are negotiable and which are not. For example, the time of arrival at home or the time that you can dedicate to the tablet or the computer cannot be negotiable. If one day they go over the limit, the next they will try again.

The children need to understand why there are such limits. Let them express themselves if they do not agree but explain that they are the limits of the family’s coexistence. Try to be clear and not give ambiguous answers in this type of conflict.

And do not forget to  always try to make them feel your affection even if you do not agree to their requests. The family has rules that cannot be transferred but they must be clear that this does not affect your affection and family life.

To encourage communication in the family, find moments and activities to spend time together. You can organize bike tours one afternoon a week or watch a movie together on Friday afternoons. And most importantly: look for that daily moment in which the children tell you how the day has gone and in which they count on your availability to listen to them.