Posts Tagged "wish"

What’s Behind Whining?

What’s Behind Whining?

What's behind whining? My answer, in a word, is powerlessness. If you think about it, children who are confident they can get what they want, ask; children who think asking won't work, whine.  They have to because by nature, children are driven to communicate what they want, whether they can have it or not. This is explained by the first premise of Language of Listening®: Everything children...

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Drawing Out a Withdrawn Child

Drawing Out a Withdrawn Child

When a child has become withdrawn, lost touch with his wishes and is unable to access joy, what do you do? Use Language of Listening coaching skills and watch the magic unfold. In a 4th grade leadership class, the topic was how to make your wishes come true. The children were to list important wishes/unimportant wishes, then list visioning/planning strategies and sub-strategies. Step #1 was...

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I want it NOW!

I want it NOW!

"I want it NOW!!!" This demand was a clear signal to Michelle Amriel, one of our instructors in training, to go beyond validation to meet her child's need for power. Here's her story: I had the opportunity to use Language of Listening this afternoon, and it worked like a charm :))   I asked my 5-year-old if he was hungry for dinner. He said, "Yes!" I said, "I'll start making it then." He...

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Create Shopping Cooperation

Create Shopping Cooperation

What do you do when your child wants everything in the store? Instead of trying to reign in their wants, check your boundaries (physical, social or personal). It's OK to buy only what you can or want to buy, and validate the rest with wishes.  An odd thing happens with wishes. When you explore the details of children's wishes—what they love about it, what they might imagine they could...

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Peaceful Family Gatherings

Peaceful Family Gatherings

Whether you love holidays or hate them, holidays bring people together. But if just thinking about being with relatives or certain friends kicks off your fight/flight/freeze response, you can use these tips to bring peace to any moment: Intentions / Wishes.   A little background: Intentions and wishes are desires that arise from what you like and love. To me, what you like and love is who...

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