What to Do If Your Child Doesn’t Communicate with You
How many times have you wondered what your child is thinking because they spend long hours silent, glued to their cell phones? If your child doesn’t communicate with you and you miss how they used to tell you everything, read this article.
Below, we’ll share simple but very effective recommendations. For this purpose, you need to keep the following points in mind:
- Family environment
- Quality time
- Family activities
- Stable social groups
A good family environment: Why it’s important and how to achieve it
In a work environment, is it healthy if everyone’s serious, angry, or yelling all the time? The obvious question to this answer is no. Well, the same goes for families. In work environments, the concept of “teamwork” is considered important. And it truly is!
In fact, teamwork is very important in families as well. If you noticed that your child doesn’t communicate with you, it’s time to do something about it.
Having a relaxed, quiet, and friendly environment is the first step to getting you and your child to communicate in a positive way.
To achieve this, you need to establish a number of key points:
- Firstly, schedules and routines. Although you don’t have to have overly strict routines, it’s important to establish reference points that make all family members know how daily life unfolds. It’s a strategy that yields very good results.
- Order and organization. This also helps the entire family feel more at ease. It’s related to the first point and also lets everyone know what they have to do at home.
- Also, hierarchy and boundaries. Yes, boundaries. Nowadays, many parents don’t set boundaries. However, a happy child isn’t one who always does what they want but who knows the rules of the game and who has the final say. Can you imagine a soccer game without a referee? It’d be totally crazy!
- Likewise, respect and trust. Both go hand in hand. This doesn’t mean that supervision and control aren’t necessary. However, parents should adopt responsible and conscious perspectives in this regard. You must use the appropriate resources to help your child reach their goals and the ones you set for them. Likewise, you must support your children and make them feel important.
- Finally, collaboration and empathy. It’s important for you to put yourself in your child’s shoes. A good idea is to devote an afternoon to try to see things from their perspective. Putting yourself in their shoes can help you understand many of their behaviors. If your child feels understood and supported, they’ll also feel relaxed and happy.
Give your child what you value the most, your time. This will completely surprise them!
Do you feel that you never have enough time? Time is the most-valued asset nowadays. Surely, it’s one of the things you probably wish you had more of. In this regard, you need to remember that this is what your child values the most from you.
Yes, it’s really that simple. Do you spend enough quality time with your child? Think carefully before you answer this trick question. Yes, remember that the keyword here is quality.
If you hire someone to work for you on an hourly basis, probably what will most matter to you is that they use the time wisely, right? Well, you have to do the same thing in your home. Harness the time you have or make more time. This way, you make sure you spend more quality time with your child.
Ultimately, if your child doesn’t communicate with you, this may be the problem. Spend quality time with your children. We’re sure you’ll see the results within a few days! To achieve this, it’s important to:
- Know their tastes and interests. Understand your children to make them see that you’re interested in them and the things they like. This way, you can become a stimulating and interesting father or mother for your child.
- Learn about the things they like. Yes, you’re going to have to read up on the newest PlayStation, Minecraft, and other things.
As an anecdote, I remember my childhood. When I was 13, my parents bought me a Super Nintendo. What I enjoyed the most was playing soccer with my father on the game console. Today, I’m 40 years old. And every time I come home, I connect the game console and play a few matches with him. We laugh a lot and this brings back wonderful memories for both of us.
- Participate and get involved in the things they like. Not only with the kinds of things I mentioned, but with all things. If your child likes music, sports, or a very specific thing, learning and talking about it with your child will make them very happy and will help you bond. Have them teach you what they know and tell you why they like what they like.
Family activities: Recommendations to improve communication between all family members
As children grow, they want to spend less time with their parents or siblings. This probably happened to you when you were a teen! It’s perfectly normal. To make sure this doesn’t affect you, you can try some activities that promote communication. If you put the tips I shared above into practice, you’ve probably noticed an improvement. Otherwise, you’ll have to do some magic to recover the lost time.
Some activities appeal to most children, regardless of their age. Although some cases are harder than others, the key to everything is knowing your child well to choose the right ones.
If your child doesn’t communicate with you, it’s important for you to spend quality time with them
- A good idea is to take your children to an aquarium, as this is a perfect activity for all ages that we’re sure you’ll all enjoy as a family.
- Another fun activity that you can enjoy as a family is going to a zoo or a park. I’ve visited several parks and zoos with my family, and we all enjoyed it!
Friends and groups of friends: keys to establishing a “positive” environment for your child
If you noticed that your child doesn’t communicate with you, you’ve surely asked yourself who their friends are. The best way to avoid problems is to get to know your child’s friends. Establishing a good relationship with the parents of your child’s friends and organizing group activities that you can also participate in all are two great ideas.
Below, I share some ideas that work well. However, remember that you can choose the ones that you consider to be the best options for your child and their friends:
- A strategy that usually works very well during the summer is to organize activities at the pool or beach, depending on where you live. Organize a day of fun activities, games, prizes, and more.
- Also, mini sports tournaments also work well. It doesn’t matter if you go for soccer, basketball, or swimming… In this regard, it’s a great idea to organize team activities where the focus is on participation, not winning.
- Create parent teams that participate and serve as “guinea pigs” to make children understand that it’s fun, an easy way to interact and spend quality time, and that you don’t care about making a fool of yourself.
In short, if your child doesn’t communicate with you…
If you believe that your child doesn’t communicate with you, remember the following tips:
- Firstly, a good family environment is essential.
- Also, spending quality time with your children is one of the pillars of success.
- Likewise, family activities guarantee good results.
- Finally, creating a stable social group that will support your child also yields good results.