Communicating with Children

Five Important Aspects For Communicating With Children

We need to practice spending TIME with our children. We need to engage with them so that they feel valued, needed and loved.

Things to consider when communicating with our children:

1) Make eye contact with them

2) Get down to their level when you talk to them

3) Acknowledge their feelings

4) Hug them

5) Don't rush them

Two Activities That Help Children To Communicate Their Feelings More Easily

1. Feelings Faces Activity

Claire gives us brilliant ideas on how to share our feelings as a family

Jennifer Scott-Morrison,

owner of Junior Jive Music and Movement Programme

Here is a fantastic game to play with young children. Feelings are very important, as well as allowing children to express themselves in a safe environment.

Junior Colleges (Snuggles)

'The 'Feelings Faces' downloadable

2. Noughts and Crosses Activity

Free Downloadable:

Noughts and Crosses

Engaging With Our Children Through Play

Activities that help us to engage with our children can be active or quiet games. When we engage with our children we make them feel:

They are worthy of our time
They feel we enjoy spending time with them
They feel needed
They feel loved
It makes them feel valued

Six Ideas For You To Engage With Your Children

Physical activities

Together, playing soccer, cricket, tennis, jumping on the trampoline, skipping, cycling, swimming

Charades

Each person gets the chance to silently act out a word while the others playing must guess it. The person who guesses it correctly then gets to act out their word.

Freeplay

(The child chooses the activity of their choice)

Set the oven clock to ring off when you need to begin dinner or another task. You will engage more fully with your child as you know it’s for a limited period and they will see that you are more engaged in play and not constantly worried about the time as you have set the clock.

General knowledge quiz

Have a sheet of paper each with four/five columns. Each column must be headed with names, countries, cars, animals etc. Have turns selecting a letter of the alphabet. Each person must complete their columns with words beginning with the selected letter ie: ‘e’ for England, Elephant, Erin. Points scored for each correct word.

Board Games

Choose a board game that your child enjoys and play it in sections such as 20 min each evening. Leave the game set up so it can be continued.

Quiet activities

Colouring in together, building puzzles together, drawing together (have fun and blindfold each other and then give a drawing instruction which needs to be completed while blindfolded).

Very often children know that they are loved but they don’t feel needed within their families. If your child knows you enjoy playing with them then they will feel needed. If you make playing with your child seem like a chore, they will feel it and they will feel a sense of rejection.

Engaging With Our Children Through Conversation

How well do you know your child/ren?

Conversations with our children are important.

Knowing our children includes knowing about things that are important to them, even if it is not important to you, such as: their favourite colour, what they dream of doing/becoming one day, what their favourite food is, who their best friend is, what they feel they are good at, what they like about themselves.

Questions you can use to engage with your child:

What is your best friends name?
What is your favourite game to play at breaktime?
What do your friends do that sometimes irritates you?
What do you like best about your friends?
If you could choose to go away on holiday with a friend, where would you choose to go, and why?
What do you like doing best at home?
What would you like to do more of with your mom and/or dad?
What is your favourite subject and why do you like it best?
What would you like to be when you are older?
What are your dreams for the future?