4 ways to know & better understand your child?
Your child needs you most of all to understand and love him/her for who they are, not to spend most of your time trying to correct them.
So, how exactly can you better understand your child and nurture him/her with the correct set of attitudes and values that are required in the long run? Allow me to share my personal practices that can help you in your journey of discovering more about your child:
1. Listen to them while they are annoyed, gloomy, nervous, embarrassed, and overjoyed.
2. Observe the emotional development.
3. Watch their gestures.
4. Play with them all indoor, outdoor games to let them know they can rely on you.
1. Listen to them while they are annoyed, gloomy, nervous, embarrassed, and overjoyed.
Have a conversation to know what bothers them and what makes them happy. Consistency in this process will help them develop the habit of sharing things and not keeping them to themselves. Watch them while they eat, what food gives them the extra delight, watch them sleep; observe them while they study to know what really interests them and what makes them feel bored.
2. Observe the emotional development
Observe how they react when you tell them about occurrences like, changing a city, separation with your spouse; basically, the harsh truths which they might have to face someday. This will help you understand how emotionally strong they are and whether are adaptable to change. Your children simply express it with emotions like anger, sorrow, fear, or happiness.
3. Watch their gestures
See how they make facial expressions, movement of eyes, hand gestures when you are having any tough or happy kind of interaction or after you have just scolded them for some mistake. Let them come out with what they feel. Observe if they are imitating any of your gestures.
Children are great imitators. So give them something great to imitate. -Philip Johnson
4. Play with them all indoor, outdoor games to let them know they can rely on you.
Often play brainstorming games like chess, scribble or fun outdoor games like cricket, badminton to let them know that they have someone with whom they can have a fun time. Separately also interact with them about how they play in school; tell them to teach you some new games, and talk about their friends, relatives, cousins, pets, or any other peers.
Play is the highest form of research.
-Albert Einstein
Pro tip: Journaling is good habit to have. It is the best method to keep your thoughts sane as well as your child’s. Once you journal your observation of your child’s behavior or reactions, you will only see a more stable graph between you two over time. Once you update few things and circle back over a period; you would realize the changes and implementation your child has taken. As they grow, more complex emotions such as confidence, hope, guilt, and pride develop in them. It is a perfect path to becoming a more rational and mature individual.
Enjoy and live this beautiful phase of childhood with your child again.
