Communication is indeed the key to fostering a healthy relationship. The ability to effectively communicate applies as much to parent-child relationships as it does to any other type of relationship. Sometimes, it just seems too difficult for parents to establish a strong connection with their children which usually results in more issues in their children’s mental health and overall well-being.
Reasons as to why parent-child communication breaks down vary and each one of them is capable of significantly impacting the parent-child relationship. That is why it’s essential for us to dive deep into those reasons in today’s episode.
Why do kids get stuck with sensitivity?
One of the prevalent mistakes that parents tend to commit is that they fail to engage in active listening when communicating with their children. Sometimes, parents just lose their patience due to various reasons which in turn cause them not to listen to their children attentively.
Of course, it's understandable considering that it is not uncommon for the demands and stressors of daily life, or the constant hustle and bustle to wear down a parent's ability to be fully present and engaged in conversations with their children. However, this negatively affects our children insofar as they are likely to feel unheard or undervalued. As such, development of a strong and healthy parent-child relationship is hindered.
More importantly, we must break the negativity cycle that our kids have inherited from us parents. 70% of kids nowadays have rejection sensitivity which usually leads to the breaking down of parent-child communication. This is because most parents don’t put themselves in their children’s shoes which is why they don’t understand the latter’s point of view in various circumstances.
We should stop putting the same expectations with completely different rules and parameters for our kids. Things have significantly changed over the years and contemporary parenting styles have improved since then for the better. As such, we must be more empathetic to our children.
Recognizing these changes and adapting our parenting approaches accordingly is essential for fostering healthier parent-child relationships. Let us create a more compassionate and harmonious environment within our families and allow our children to thrive and flourish.
Meet kids where they are at.
As parents, it is our responsibility to adapt and connect with our children at their developmental stage and to recognize that they may not yet possess the skills to meet us where we are. This greatly helps in fostering effective communication and mitigating conflicts within the parent-child relationship.
I think one of the major reasons why conflict happens is because of different communication styles. This holds true especially now that we have become so connected to our devices and less communicative to other people.
It is thus important for parents to acknowledge these gaps and actively work in fostering an open and effective parent-child communication to pave the way for more harmonious parent-child interactions and establish a better and healthier relationship.
For more information, you can read this blog post: Why Parent and Child Communication Breaks Down
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