I was waiting for a class to start at my local community centre when I saw a small sign tacked to the director’s door. It just said ‘Listen to children’. It was so direct and simple – it stopped me short. As a teacher, I usually do all the talking and even when I pause to take a breath, I’m thinking about what I am going to say next. Not much listening in between. Same goes as a parent. Lots and lots of talking there, like ‘Clean your room NOW’, ‘Finish you dinner, or ‘Stop teasing your sister’.
Without listening to children though, we never get to see how they are seeing the world. We miss hearing about their fears, worries and anxieties and all the opportunities to comfort and reassure. We miss building on their ideas. And we miss learning from them.
