I saw this article from io9 by Katharine Trendacosta that I really liked and now sharing with you guys. If you don't have time to read it, here is my summary. You still have to read the article for specifics:
- You can start training children to have a conversation by asking the right questions and by responding "properly".
- Try to ask open ended questions.
- There are good and bad ways to ask open ended questions to children.
- Children will actually respond to non-sensible/silly questions (e.g. "where do circles live?").
- Children don't have a good grasp of time, try to avoid asking those.
If you have kid(s), how do you encourage him/her to have a conversation? Are you doing what the article suggests?
I have taken a lot of queues from my wife (used to be a kindergarden and 2nd grade teacher) and articles we (usually she) finds and reads that make sense with our form of parenting and what we're comfortable with.
ReplyDeleteIt definitely requires a lot of patience and being open to listening, which is something that's an excellent life lesson in general for oneself, much less just for your kids.
Another similar aspect is when our daughter draws things, we never say "what a nice picture", and leave it at that. We say instead, "what's this picture about?", "what is that red thing in the corner?", "I like this line, what is it?" etc. She has learned to tell us about the story about which she has created, and it makes the whole process, on both sides, that much more interesting.
What infuriates me the most is the adults you run into that come up to her and say, "Aren't you pretty?" What's a kid supposed to do with that? That's completely useless. Learn how to have a conversation.