Finding Better Ways to Communicate with Your Children

Mom and Dad, are you a tugboat or a rudder?

You can tell by the way you motivate your children. Tugboat parents get their children going the right direction by pushing and pulling them through life. There’s a lot of nagging, mild threats, and endless warnings against the consequences of bad choices.

I think every parent has done that. I know I’ve grabbed the rope and started to pull when one of my boys hasn’t made a good decision. Fear motivates a lot of us to move our children in the right direction by force.

There’s a better way.

Be a rudder. Rudder parents steer their children in the way they should go, infusing them with a healthy self-image that propels them forward in a loving way even when you’re correcting their bad choices or telling them the hard truth about their musical talent, their athletic ability, or how tall they are. When children veer off course, rudder parents steer them back again.

How do you do that?

We’re offering practical insight on our Focus on the Family Broadcast “Finding Better Ways to Communicate with Your Children” with our guests Michael Anderson, a licensed psychologist, and Dr. Timothy Johanson, a professor and pediatrician. Both specialize in helping parents with difficult children.

They’re sharing practical ideas that you can put into practice today to be a rudder that steers your kids in the right direction instead a tugboat that pulls them along. Listen on your local radio station, online, on Apple Podcasts, via Google Podcasts, or take us with you on our free phone app.

Before I close, I’d like to extend an invitation for you to become a special partner with us through our monthly “Friends of Focus on the Family” program. When you do, I’ll send you a copy of Michael Anderson and Dr. Timothy Johanson’s book GIST: The Essence of Raising Life-Ready Kids as a way of saying thank you for touching others with the love of Christ. To make your pledge, or for more information, click here or call 1-800-A-FAMILY (232-6459).