5 Ways To Improve Communication With Your Son

Communication in any relationship is important, and sometimes easily overlooked, especially with children.

Because our children learn from us, the way we communicate to and around them is very important. 

Practicing good communication creates a deeper bond within the Mother-Son relationship, grows your Son’s self-esteem, and models healthy communication practices for him.

Making an effort to practice healthy, open communication with your Son validates or corrects his ideas and reinforces his self-worth. Being highly communicative with your Son is a way to show him you love him and really deepen your relationship with each other.

Do you want to improve the way you communicate with your Son?

Here are the best practices of highly communicative Mothers:

1. Sincerely listen. Highly communicative Mothers sincerely listen. Sometimes it’s easy for our minds to wander or to want to tell our children how to think. But if you want to maintain a healthy, open line of communication with your Son, listen with sincerity and empathy.

Show interest in what your Son says! Give your Son a space to share his thoughts without fears of being judged, shamed, or brushed aside.

Listen without judgment. Instead of insisting your Son adopt your own ways of thinking, listen to him with empathy and openness.

Be present and maintain eye contact. Commit to being fully present for your Son instead of turning your attention towards your cell phone or the tv.

2. Ask open-ended questions. Encourage your Son to think critically and process his ideas by asking open-ended questions. By asking open questions, you show your Son that you’re curious about the way he thinks and encourage him to share more!

• “Can you tell me more about that?”
• “How does that make you feel?”
• “What do you think about that topic?”
  

3. Honestly share your own feelings and ideas. Even with your Son, the relationship is not one-sided! As he develops, share your own honest feelings and ideas with him.

4. Make time for regular, informal family check-ins. Work never ends, and especially when raising a family, our lives can feel so busy. It’s important to create the time to talk and check-in with your Son so you can make a space for him to feel open.

• Start simple, such as scheduling a check-in over a family meal or before bedtime.
  
• Commit to following through with check-ins even on challenging days! 

5. Handle conflict gently and carefully. Open communication is the foundation of healthy conflict management. Children learn from the way we model conflict management. As their Mother, it’s important to do your best to set a positive example for handling conflicts. 

• Start the conversation. When your Son is angry or bothered, he may not have the tools to openly talk about how he feels. If you notice he's holding something back, start the conversation. This prevents him from feeling guilty for starting a difficult discussion.
  
• Maintain a respectful tone. When your Son is angry, he may say something hurtful or offensive. Alternatively, you might feel impatient with the way he deals with his anger. It’s important to maintain a respectful tone so he feels comfortable handling conflict in the future.
  
• Solve the problem together. Empower your Son to help you solve the problem. Show him how he is in control of his actions and the problem doesn’t have to happen in the same way in the future.

It’s not an easy task, but the work you do to create a space to communicate openly with your Son will help his social and emotional development. At the end of the day, going through the challenging task of communicating even when it’s hard shows how much you love your Son.

Giving your Son a space to share his feelings gives him a space to process his emotions. You can teach him how to share his emotions in a healthy way at the same time as building a tighter bond with him!

Apply for a free Breakthrough Session with me! The Breakthrough Session is a 60 minute free coaching session where I’ll help you: 

1. Gain clarity on your current challenges with your Son and what is holding you back from reclaiming your peace

2. Gain clarity on the type of relationship you actually want to have with your Son and what needs to happen to get there

3. Together, we will create a strategy to overcome your current challenges and achieve your life and relationship goals

Click here to learn more.