Day Eight - Truly Listen to Your Kids

"When you truly listen to your kids, it's very difficult to lose them."  That is what an agent from the Weber/Morgan Narcotics Task Force said to me a few years ago when I was asking him to share with me his perspective regarding parents' roles in drug abuse prevention.

I went home and pondered:

•  "How much do I truly listen to my children?"

I thought I did great at truly listening to my children.  WRONG!

First, I'm a chronic multi-tasker.  Too often I "listen" while stirring dinner on the stove with one hand, wiping up a nearby mess with the other hand, and nudging a cupboard door closed with a foot.  Once I took time out to play a game of Candy Land with my then 5 year old while talking on the phone with a friend!

Second, I discovered how little time I truly had available to connect with my children.  Think about it:  Between school all day, and dance/music lessons, sports practice and games, etc. after school, and dinner prep, homework, and the bedtime routine after all that, how much do I really give my kids eye-to-eye contact, focus on them, and truly listen to what they are saying to me especially during those random moments when they ask for it by saying, "Mom!"  or  "Mom?"  or  "Mom...."

"When you truly listen to your kids, it's very difficult to lose them"  = a powerful, true principle that will strengthen our families as we apply it.

Blog-in tomorrow for Day Nine!