Parenting: Conversation

Conversation is a dying art. Families are busy and surrounded by media. Yet, children need family conversation to develop as human beings and as Christians. Here are the top five reasons for making a point to engage in conversation with your children:

1.      Build relationships: discuss those small events now, so there is a foundation for discussing big events in adolescence.

2.      Build language skills: children learn vocabulary and grammar in conversation. Words first heard around the dinner table will be easily decoded in reading and remembered for a test.

3.      Build social skills: taking turns in conversation, finding interest in another person’s story, hearing stories about parents as a child are all things that build social skills.

4.      Sharing faith: integrating the faith into a story or a question is a great way to share why faith is important to every aspect of our lives.

5.      Sharing morality: asking questions about tough situations promotes good moral development as children reason with adults who share their faith.

Don’t let conversation be a dying art. I recommend establishing a couple of media free zones. The dinner table is a perfect example. Use this time to share, build, and learn about each other.

I hope to come to you and talk face to face, so that our joy may be complete. (II John 12b, ESV)