ask why…

A key point I’ve tried to stress to parents for years is that there is always a reason. There is a reason for everything that every person does. We may not easily recognize it, but it is there somewhere. When faced with a specific behavior from our children, it is important to ask, whether verbally or not, “Why?” The wording may be different. We may just need to internally ask ourselves the question. However, we cannot fully understand the situation if we do not understand our child’s feelings, thoughts, and needs. We need to listen to our children – to their words, expressions, body language, and tone – to find out why. By actively listening to them, we can find the route cause of a behavior and more effectively work with our children.