Thursday, March 28, 2013

The First C - Connection


CONNECTION

“The most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen. Just listen. Perhaps the most important thing we ever give each other is our attention.... A loving silence often has far more power to heal and to connect than the most well-intentioned words.”
Rachel Naomi Remen

Connection is the one way that we can help our kids feel loved.   We find it easier to connect when our children are babies, helpless and dependent on us for everything.  We are constantly holding and feeding and attending to our babies.  We anxiously wait to hear every sound our baby makes and watch for every development in our baby: first coo, first smile, first laugh, first steps.  The challenge is when our babies grow up and become more independent.  How then do we build connection?

We can start by listening.  That means stop what we are doing no matter how important what we are doing may seem at the time and just LISTEN.  This is very challenging with our busy lives - cellphones, work assignments, and driving our kids to sports.  It is extremely important, however, if we want a close relationship with our children.  When our children talk, we need to stop what we are doing and just listen.

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