How to Be a Better Listener

Help! My Child Won’t Listen! Part 4

Get everyone in the family listening to each other more effectively by teaching and modeling these 10 tips.

1. Make a commitment to improve your listening skills.
2. Talk less and listen more!
3. Give undivided attention when someone is speaking to you.
4. Set aside your own thoughts, judgments, and experiences while listening.
5. If you don’t agree with what the other person is saying, put your own opinions aside first. Make a real effort to put yourself in the other person’s shoes and empathize with their experience.
6. Wait until the other person is finished expressing themselves before responding.
7. Paraphrase what the other person has just said to acknowledge that you have fully understood them.
8. Make sure you have captured everything they are feeling.
9. Pay attention to the other person’s tone of voice when they tell you something.
10. Pay attention to what the other person is expressing through their body language, like crossed arms or hunched shoulders.