Finding Better Ways to Communicate with Your Children

Mom and Dad, are you tugboats or rudders? You can tell by the way you motivate your children.

Tugboat parents get their children going the right direction by pulling them through the water. There’s a lot of nagging, mild threats, and endless warnings against the consequences of bad choices.

Every parent has done that, I think. 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 parents to force their children in the right direction.

There’s a better way.

Rudder parents steer their children in the way they should go. A rudder’s influence isn’t so noticeable when a ship is headed in the right direction. But when it veers off course, the rudder steers it back again.

Your children will benefit when you tell them the truth about their musical talent, their athletic ability, or how tall they are. There’s a loving way to do that. It will give your children a healthy self-image and propel them forward.

We’ll give you practical insight into how to do that on our Focus on the Family Broadcast “Finding Better Ways to Communicate with Your Children.” Our guests are Michael Anderson, a licensed psychologist, and Dr. Timothy Johanson, a professor and pediatrician. They 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, visit our website or call 1-800-A-FAMILY (232-6459).

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, children, parenting November 8, 2019 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura