Child Education: Improving Listening Skills
They key to good communication is listening. Unless we listen to the person or persons with whom we are communicating, there is no way that we can accurately participate in a conversation. Becoming a good listener is a discipline that requires practice. Rest assured, however, that once you master the art of listening, you will also master the art of communication.
Communication Through Listening
Children arent known for their listening skills. This is because kids have little experience with negotiation, and out of immaturity, only want to get their points across with little regard for anyone else. Sound like some adults you know? If so, you are not alone. If not given the proper tools for listening and communicating as kids, children often grow up to be poor communicators as adults.
One way for adults and children to improve their listening skills is to maintain eye contact with the speaker. Doing so puts individuals in direct contact with one another and prevents boredom/interruption from setting in. Without eye contact, individuals who are supposed to be listening often drift off (mentally) in order to try and form a good rebuttal without gaining all of the necessary information.
Another way to improve listening skills is to enforce a self-imposed rule that you will not interrupt. This is hard for many of us because we cant wait to throw in our two cents of information. In not allowing yourself to interrupt the speaker, you force yourself to listen to the other persons entire argument, therefore improving your chances of responding correctly. After a few weeks of the no-interruption rule, you will find you are less anxious to suspend the conversation, and more interested in actually listening.