How to develop your child's listening skills

Listening refers to a child’s ability to pay attention to and separate both environmental and speech sounds from one another. When children have good listening skills they are better able to select, remember and process information which has a significant impact on their academic success.

Listening is one of the most important skills a child will need to master to reach their full potential as a child and an adult.

Good listening skills are essential for a child’s development as they lay the foundation for other critical skills such as;

* Sound recognition
* Building spoken language
* Following instructions
* Developing social relationships
* Building and improving communications skills



Many of our children lack the opportunity to develop this crucial skill as many of them are surrounded by the constant glare of television, computers, play-stations and other video games.

Video and computer games may sit well as a good babysitter for many parents but when they are overly used they can have harmful effects on our children. Due to the high pace and instant entertainment pleasure children get from these games their patience and attention span significantly decrease which in turn affects their listening skills.

Parenting is a lot of work and it can be time consuming but when done correctly can reap many rewards. It is therefore important for parents to find the time to nurture and develop their children’s listening skills.

There are several activities parents can use when interacting with their child to ensure that their child develops good listening skills. These activities include but are not limited to the following.

* Regularly reading to your Child - when parents read to their child it forces him to sit and listen to what is being read. In reading to the child the parent should frequently ask questions about the story and ask the child to give a summary of what she understood about the story. When this is done it grooms the child to listen attentively and also develops his attention span, focus level and knowledge



* Play audio stories in the car or at home- for this activity to be rewarding the parent need to question the child about the story to ensure she is understanding and following the story line



* If you say something to your child ask him to repeat it- your child should not be required to repeat the message word for word but should be able to accurately repeat the message in her own words. This activity ensures that your child is listening attentively and understands the message



* Maintain eye contact when communicating- when speaking with your child parents should aim to look your child directly in the eye. It teaches him to remain focused and to listen to what is being communicated. It even will eventually build her self-esteem.



* Repeat Nursery Rhymes- for your toddler/preschooler parents can play a game of saying rhymes and leaving a word out to ensure the child is listening to the rhyme.



* Listen to your child attentively - it is important that the parent be a living example to the child of good listening skills. This entails not showing boredom, being impatient or interrupting the child before he is finished speaking.



A child who has good listening skills will be successful academically, in his relationships and eventually in his career. These skills are needed for a child’s survival therefore parents should make the every effort to develop these skills on a daily basis.