Discover how active listening can transform your relationship with your family. Learn techniques to support independence, resilience and resolve conflicts peacefully.
Introduction:
Active Listening was developed Carl Rogers in 1957. It is an attentive form of listening that seeks to understand and offer an empathic response which is accepting of the speakers perspective.
What is Active Listening?
Key elements of active listening are acceptance, empathy and an authenticate willingness to listen without a need to offer judgment, advice or persuade the speaker to your own outcome. It is a skill that we do not use generally but enables a speaker to explore their own thinking when they have a problem or predicament.
Benefits of Active Listening in Parenting:
By not offering our own opinion, analysis or advice and by not judging the other person as either good or bad we empower the speaker to process their feelings and consider a way forward that is right for them at that time. A key benefit of active listening is to empower an individual, create independence and develop problem solving skills. By validating another person’s feelings we build deep connections and trust.
Techniques to Implement Active Listening:
One of the key elements of active listening is to be attentive. Remove distractions and focus on the listener. Try and understand and guess how they are feeling and what they might be needing.
Real-life Examples:
When a child was stressed about an exam their parent decided not to reassure as they used to do and instead actively listened to the concerns of the child. By doing so they noted that the child felt heard and that it was ok to have these feelings. By accepting feelings we don’t make things worse we allow the child to process those feelings and this helps build resilience.
Conclusion:
We all like to be heard and understood. For our feelings to matter. When we actively listen to each other we can create a peaceful family environment.