How To Tell If Your Child Pays Attention When You Talk To Him

Looking into each other’s eyes when talking is essential to establishing a good level of communication.  Look into your child’s eyes when you talk to him and make sure he does too; making eye contact is a good technique for knowing if he’s paying attention, as well as getting attention if he’s not.

And always remember that the most important thing to learn to communicate with your child is that this practice is essential to nurturing a relationship full of cooperation and understanding.

Many children – and to be honest, many adults too – can’t focus on one activity at a time; so before you start talking to your child, make sure he’s looking at you, then call him by his  name to get his attention right away.  Once you’re sure you have his attention, start talking.

Applying these simple but foolproof techniques will save you time and frustration, because, for example, before you give him an order you will be sure that your child is paying attention, and that he understands what you have said; so you won’t have to repeat the same thing over and over again. Which is not only irritating for you, but also for the child, and for whoever is at home.

Plus the fact that establishing good and effective communication with you will make you feel better.

Establishing effective communication with your child has its advantages.

Getting your child to pay attention helps you lay the bricks for a relationship based on good communication. And by doing so and making this communication effective, you can nurture your relationship with him now that he is little and always… As they say, the basis of every healthy relationship is good communication.

And  establishing good communication helps your child develop self-confidence and affirm his relationships with others. These characteristics make your life more pleasurable and help you reach adulthood with good feelings about yourself, in addition to nurturing your ability to communicate with others.

Precisely this ability to establish and maintain good communication with your child leads you to maintain a close and quality relationship, through which you can draw cooperation strategies and express your feelings in a healthy way.

In return, poor communication leads your child to develop frustrating relationships, which translate into conflict and lead to feelings of worthlessness.

Tricks to get your child to pay attention to you

Learning to be a good communicator is an excellent investment not only for you, but also for your child. Certainly, in time, he will be able to learn this good habit from you and will be able to express himself effectively and freely, if you allow him, and if you teach him how to do it.

However, it is necessary for parents – and adults in general – to focus on communicating better with children. To achieve this, you can learn from some of this advice taken from the booklet entitled “ Successful Strategies for Talking to Young Children” , which was published by the Washington State Department of Health and Social Services (USA).

listen to your child carefully

If you want your child to pay attention when you talk to him, learn to listen too. Pay attention to what your child says. To achieve this sometimes it is necessary for you to stop doing what you are doing and at other times you can look at it while you continue with your tasks.

Usually children want, around 30 seconds of your attention, to share their discoveries, thoughts and enthusiasm. If you’re really busy, you can tell him you can’t answer right now, but as soon as you’re done, take the time to talk. If you do this, you will keep your promise and above all don’t pretend that you are listening when in reality you are not, because he will notice and it is also possible that one day he will do the same to you.

give a clear message

If you want your child to do something, then ask for simple things and go through them one at a time. If your goal is for you to shower, dine and lie down, then order things one by one.

You need to know that young children struggle to carry out one order at a time. At this age it is difficult to remember a series of requests, so in order to be able to communicate with him objectively, make simple requests.

squat down to talk

When you talk to your toddler, squat or lift him up so they can look each other in the eye as they talk. This will help you capture their attention and establish closer, more effective communication. Shouting down doesn’t do much, nor does it work to give orders from afar.

Let him know in advance:

When major changes in the activities your child should be doing are coming up, and these are the complete opposite of what he is currently doing, then let him know ahead of time what will happen.

For example, if your child is very entertained and happy playing with his friends, but it’s time to go home and sleep, you should tell him in advance. You can try to say: “in a little while we’ll go home, when I call you say goodbye to your friends and let’s go”.

Give instructions according to his possibilities.

If you want your 2-year-old to tidy his room, saying “son, tidy his room” is certainly an imprecise command, as he will feel confused and won’t know what to do.

In that case it’s much better to say, “Let’s put your shoes in the closet” and when he does then you can ask him to help you put your toys in the box and so on… until you accomplish your goal.

Another infallible advice for your child to pay attention to you, and also obey you, is that you ask him for things in a good mood. We are all in a better mood when asked for things beautifully and accompanied by a “please”.