Undivided Attention

Posted by learning on May 25, 2008

I was at the ‘University of Albertsons’ yesterday when a mother demonstrated a wonderful lesson about getting and giving her undivided attention with her 2 elementary school age daughters.  She was selecting ears of corn and needed plastic bags to put the corn in.  She called her daughters over from their cart that was nearby, learned over to their eye sight level, and gently said, “Look at my eyes and listen to my words”.  Immediately the girls looked into her face.  She politely asked for two plastic bags and the girls scampered off to retrieve them for their mom.

I was immensely pleased to see such a positive interaction between the mom and daughters.  Secondly, I knew that this was not the first time that kind of interaction had taken place.  Obviously, that mom had worked hard to achieve such an easy level of interaction.  First, I know she had given her daughters her undivided attention and had looked into their eyes when they spoke.  Second, she had placed the expectation that her daughters do the same when she spoke. 

Listening with complete attention to your children is vitally important.  Not only does it raise their self-esteem, it gives them the confidence to interact with their peers and adults with confidence.  My compliment to the mom at Albertsons and to all you who stop, listen and give that undivided attention to your children.