Monday, March 15, 2010

Listening

Last week club fearless taught...

Listening is the most powerful part of a relationship
Listening is much more powerful than talking

During this week when there were little "outbreaks" in our family, I would just listen. POWERFUL

One Example:

Our church now starts at 1pm which is great in many ways but kinda hard on the toddlers who miss nap time, which might be the reason for the melt downs every now and then when it's time to go to class. I am taking the advice of LISTENING instead of reacting and this is my experience.

My 3 yr. old starts crying and says " I want to go home now". I LISTEN and hold him and I let him know "it's ok to WANT to go home now but this is church time".

He then says " I don't want to go to class right now" as I LISTEN and hold him I again let him know that "it's ok to not WANT to go to class right now but this is what we do at this hour".

It really made a difference to LISTEN and he softened up and knew that mommy understood instead of mommy trying to make him disagree with how he REALLY FELT AT THE TIME.

He ended up going to class and LOVING IT for the day. Will he want to go next week...I don't know but he is learning that mommy wants to listen to how he really feels and be ok with it!

In my experience I believe this is making a difference and want to practice on EVERYONE! :0)

3 comments:

Den and Christina said...

Just spent the weekend at a Relief Society even and was blessed with the opportunity to hear Sister Alred speak, she expressed the same importance that you learned in Club Fearless, about taking the time to stop! and LISTEN! Thanks for sharing your stories. Much love

Caty said...

Great lesson!! I have experienced the benefits of LISTENING as well!

When babysitting my 2-year old nephew, I was told he could have two crackers before bedtime, but no cookies.
Well, the time came and he WANTED cookies, not crackers. Instead of getting impatient or assuming he understood, I listened to him! After he was finished, I told him, "Jack, I understand that you WANT cookies right now, but you can only have crackers. There are no cookies right now. Sometimes life is like that."

It worked! He looked at me, it registered, and he said, "Okay, I will take two crackers, please."

Andrea ; ) said...

You are good at this!
I always feel listend too.
Your example is precious.
It is so true...some things cannot be changed, we have to do them or go through them. But to be heard, that makes all the difference.

A ; )