Experts say that communication is KEY in successful marriages, and I have to agree with them.
When my husband and I are up on our communication game in our own marriage, life is great, marriage is easy, and home life is smooth. But when we slack off and take our communication for granted, well, those pleasures of life aren’t as pleasurable.
It makes sense.
Now, I have to argue that communication is also key in PARENTING, regardless if you’re parenting a baby, a toddler, a young child, an older child, or a teenager.
And of all of the parenting strategies that I teach to parents (and trust me, there are A LOT of tried-and-true strategies that I teach on a weekly basis) the majority of them boil down to…
You guessed it…
COMMUNICATION.
Providing praise to your child for those good and desirable behaviors… communication.
Providing your household rules when it’s time to play with Play-doh… communication.
Delivering those expectations upfront before you run into the grocery store with your toddler… communication.
Teaching your kiddos what specific emotions mean… communication.
Delivering effective instructions… communication.
I could go on here.
But, my point is that if you want to feel like you’re in control in your own household, with your children’s behavior, with your own parenting skills, then you’ve got to have good, strong, and effective communication.
And sure, it will look differently depending on if you’re parenting a baby, a toddler, or a teenager, but it’s all communication nonetheless.
And yes, as your child ages and develops, your style of communication will likely change, too, to support where your child is at in his or her development.
But it’s all communication.
And to me, boiling it down into an umbrella of communication is incredibly freeing as a parent.
You’ve learned how to communicate with a handful of people, and you’ve modified and adjusted your communication style depending on the person you’re speaking to and the outcome that you’re looking for.
For example, when I communicate with my husband to do something around the house, I’ve learned that I have to be clear, concise, and only deliver one or two tasks at a time, otherwise our conversation will get lost and the task will be left undone. I’ve learned this over time and I’ve adjusted my delivery method to best suit his needs and to help get the task completed.
If you stop and think about all the ways in which you communicate with different people in your own life, you’ll find, too, that you’ve had to modify and adjust your communication methods with those specific people.
And because of such, parenting our toddlers, young children, or older children doesn’t seem so daunting anymore when we look at it as communication.
Because that’s what the bulk of parenting strategies are all about… communication.
And precisely because you’ve adjusted and modified your communication delivery methods with your spouse, family members, coworkers, students, and neighbors, you better believe that you can do the same with your own children… who you know better than probably anyone else in their life.
So, when it comes time to getting a hold of your toddler’s whining or chaos at the dinner table, think of it as a prompt to modify and change up your communication delivery instead of this big, huge behavior problem…
Because, chances are, modifying your communication surrounding that unwanted behavior is likely the key to how you’ll address the problem.
