New Skill? Practice, practice, practice

When our natural tendencies as parents are to yell, lecture, and pull a power play, it can be hard to spot an emotional fever, and harder still to use active listening as your go-to parenting tool in that situation. As awkward and uncomfortable you are when you first try to active listen your child, keep at it. Even better, own up to your efforts to change your approach to parenting and ask for feedback from her. She will get a kick out of helping you out. Shoe on the other foot kind of thing. Practice, practice, practice, and you'll get the hang of this active listening. Trading in power plays for greater emotional intimacy is well worth it. We all have teachable moments, don't we?