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“The way we talk to our children becomes their inner voice.” – Peggy O’Mara
As a parent of three young children, I have to second-guess so many things I’ve said to my kids. Was I too tough? Not tough enough? Did I explain why something was or wasn’t important? And, what will what I say (and what they hear) sound like when replayed in their minds?
The good news for me and for anyone who works with or has children of their own is it’s almost never too late to change how we talk to kids. In the case of how our words influence a child’s inner voice, time and repetition matter; young minds tend to latch on to patterns and the things they hear the most. With that in mind, I want to share a few ideas we can all keep in mind during our interactions with young people.