How to Connect With Your Children

Parents have an important job. Raising kids is both rewarding and challenging. You’re likely to get a lot of advice along the way, from doctors, family, friends, and even strangers. But every parent and child is unique. Being sensitive, thoughtful, and responsive to your kids can help you build positive, healthy relationships together.

“Being a sensitive parent and responding to your kids cuts across all areas of parenting,” says Arizona State University’s Dr. Keith Crnic, a parent-child relationship expert. “What it means is recognizing what your child needs in the moment and providing that in an effective way.”

This can be especially critical for infants and toddlers, he adds. Strong emotional bonds often develop through sensitive, responsive, and consistent parenting in the first years of life. For instance, holding your baby lovingly and responding to their cries helps build strong bonds.

Tips for Connecting with Your Kids:

–Catch kids showing good behavior and offer specific praise.

-Give children meaningful jobs at home and positive recognition afterward. Don’t be overly critical; instead, help them improve their skills one step at a time.

-Use kind and considerate words, tones, and gestures when giving instructions or making requests.

-Spend some time every day in warm, positive, loving interaction with your kids. Look for opportunities to spend time as a family, like taking after-dinner walks or reading books together.

–Brainstorm solutions to problems at home or school together.

-Set rules for yourself for mobile device use and other distractions. For instance, check your phone after your child goes to bed.

-Ask about your child’s concerns, worries, goals, and ideas.

-Get involved in activities that your child enjoys. Help out with and attend their events, games, activities, and performances.

---

Vocabulary:

rewarding – giving a lot of satisfaction, pleasure, or a feeling of worth, “Teaching children how to read is a highly rewarding job.”

challenging – difficult in a way that tests your abilities or determination, “Learning to play the violin can be very challenging at first.”

unique – being the only one of its kind; special or unusual, “Every snowflake has a completely unique pattern.”

sensitive – able to understand and care about other people’s feelings and needs, “A good doctor is always sensitive to the patients’ worries.”

thoughtful – kind and carefully thinking about what other people need or want, “It was very thoughtful of you to bring me flowers when I was sick.”

responsive – reacting quickly, positively, or appropriately to a situation or request, “The support team is incredibly responsive to customer questions.”

cuts across – (phrasal verb) affects, applies to, or includes many different groups, areas, or topics, “The problem of high food prices cuts across all neighborhoods in the city.”

in the moment – (idiom) focusing completely on what is happening right now, rather than worrying about the past or future, “Instead of taking photos on her phone, she decided to just enjoy the concert in the moment.”

critical – extremely important, crucial, or absolutely necessary for success, “Getting immediate medical care is critical after a serious accident.”

infants – very young children or babies, usually under one year old, “The hospital has a special room for taking care of newborn infants.”

toddlers – young children who are just learning to walk, usually between one and three years old, “The local park has a playground designed safely for toddlers.”

bonds – strong connections or feelings of friendship and love that join people together, “Going to camp helped the teenagers build lifelong bonds.”

consistent – always behaving, performing, or happening in a similar, reliable, and predictable way, “He made consistent progress in English because he studied every single day.”

for instance – (idiom) for example; used to introduce a specific case that proves a point, “You can buy many healthy snacks here; for instance, they sell fresh apples and nuts.”

catch – (verb context) to notice, discover, or see someone doing an action, often by surprise or chance, “The teacher was happy to catch the students sharing their crayons.”

specific – clear, exact, and detailed rather than general, “The manual gave us specific instructions on how to fix the television.”

meaningful – useful, serious, important, or having a deep and real value, “They had a very meaningful conversation about their plans for the future.”

recognition – praise, public thanks, or official attention given to someone for their hard work or achievements, “The young scientist received international recognition for discovering the new medicine.”

overly – too much; excessively or to an extreme degree, “Don’t be overly worried about making small mistakes when speaking a new language.”

one step at a time – (idiom) doing something slowly and carefully, moving from one stage to the next without rushing, “Fixing an old house is a big job, but you can do it if you take it one step at a time.”

considerate – kind, polite, and thinking carefully about the feelings, needs, or rights of other people, “It is considerate to turn down your music when your roommate is studying.”

gestures – movements of the hands, arms, or body that express an idea, feeling, or instruction, “The traffic officer used clear hand gestures to tell the drivers to stop.”

interaction – the act of talking, spending time, or working together with other people, “The language class includes a lot of fun interaction between the students.”

opportunities – chances or favorable situations that make it possible to do something you want to do, “Travel provides many wonderful opportunities to learn about new cultures.”

brainstorm – to suggest a lot of different ideas quickly in a group to solve a problem or create something new, “The design team met in the afternoon to brainstorm names for the new application.”

distractions – things that take your attention away from what you are currently doing or trying to focus on, “Turn off your mobile phone to avoid distractions while you do your homework.”

concerns – worries, problems, or important matters that cause anxiety or need attention, “Parents often have major concerns about their children’s safety online.”

performances – plays, concerts, dances, or other entertaining activities given publicly in front of an audience, “The school theater group gave three amazing performances this weekend.”