How to Listen So Your Kids Will Talk: Deepen Your Connection and Strengthen Their Confidence by Becky Harling Book Review

In How to Listen So Your Kids Will Talk, Becky Harling opened up about parenting and how she learned the importance of listening to what is our children heart’s. She raised four children and now has 14 grandchildren. She begins by sharing a personal story about her own parenting and how God spoke to her during one conversation with her daughter. One of her daughters who was 4 at the time loved to argue and disagree with her on many things. One time, they were arguing and her daughter was telling her no and she was begging for her to listen to her side. The Lord spoke to her and said give her a voice and since then she tried the timer method. She gave her daughter one minute per year of her age to state her case. Later, she was able to recognize that her daughter had strong leadership abilities. She compared her to Deborah in the Bible and how God used her to help defeat enemies of Israel and how she was a strong leader and confident. Throughout her parenting, she was able to see how critical it is for our children to feel like we are hearing what they have to say. She shared how if we will listen to our children now and connect with them, then when they become adults, they will be more open to speak with us and in turn we will develop a healthy everlasting relationship. 

 

 

She shared how we need to all become more mindful in our parenting and to limit the distractions with work and technology when we are supposed to be engaging with our children. This will help us to let our children know we are hearing them. The book looked at how we can be intentional with having a date with each of our child and doing a special activity one on one. She also shared how playing is importance for the growth of our children. We can also learn the practice of asking questions and creating conversation topics to engage at family dinner time and other times as needed. She included 50 open ended questions to assist parents in asking their children these questions and to learn more about how they are feeling and thinking. She also included tips on using wisdom to ask questions wisely. 

 

I would recommend this awesome parenting book to anyone who is struggling with raising their kids. I immensely like how she looked at ways to use wisdom found in scriptures and how we can use better listening and listening practices to engaged with our children. I liked how she included how to pray scriptures over our kids’ lives and she included fill in the blanks in the book. I also liked how she included wisdom tools at the end of each chapter. This enclosed wisdom from God, self-care, and wisdom from the different ages: preschoolers, grade schoolers, tweens, and teens. I enjoyed how she looked at different ideas and suggestions for each stage of your child’s life. I also liked how she included suggestions on how to affirm and recognize our child’s strengths. This book will guide readers into making sure our children are seen and heard and it will greatly transform our parent and child relationships. 

 

 

 

"I received this book free from the publisher, Bethany House/ Chosen for my honest review.”

 

 

 

If you would like to purchase a copy of How to Listen So Your Kids Will Talk, check it out on Amazon.com: 

 

https://www.amazon.com/Listen-Your-Kids-Will-Talk/dp/0764237217