How to Use Positive Communication

Positive parenting and child development are connected. Discover ways to use positive communication, such as praise, imitation, description, and active listening, to interact with your child.

Good communication between you and your child is important for developing a positive relationship. As your child gets older, good communication will make it easier for you to talk to him about things like alcohol and drugs. Good communication with your child can start early. Two skills that are helpful for good communication with toddlers and preschoolers are praise and active listening. You will learn more about these skills in this section.

Help Your Child Learn Positive Behavior!

All children misbehave or engage in challenging behavior sometimes. How you handle your child’s misbehavior can make a big difference in how your child behaves throughout her life.

Treating your child with kindness and respect will help her treat others with kindness and respect. You are modeling positive relationships.

You can take steps to teach your child positive behaviors!

How to Nurture Your Child

• Listen to your child
• Respond to your child’s needs
• Remain calm
• Don’t expect your child to be perfect
• Model appropriate behavior—including saying sorry

How to Nurture Yourself

• Take care of yourself
• Take a break when you need it—if your child is safe
• Don’t expect yourself to be perfect

Taking a moment each day to think about how your communication and behavior affect the infants, toddlers, and adults you interact with is a powerful way to develop your awareness and responsiveness. Think about how your personal interactions might affect your relationships. For example, how do your tone of voice, facial expressions, and body posture communicate messages to the people around you?

Keys to Communicating with Your Child

1. Praise your child when she does something right. The more you praise a behavior, the more likely it is your child will behave the same way again.
2. Pay attention to your child when he is talking to you or trying to communicate with you. Giving him your full attention will help you understand what he is telling you. It will also make him feel like you care about what he has to say.
3. Set aside time each day to talk and play with your child. Creating a special time lets your child know she is important. It also strengthens the bond between the two of you.

Responding to Good Behavior

Attention from you and other caregivers is important to your child. In fact, toddlers and preschoolers demand A LOT of adult attention.

Attention can be both positive and negative. Positive attention is used to show your child he has done something you like. Positive attention includes things like praise, hugs, kisses, pats on the back, and high-fives. Negative attention lets your child know you do not like what he has done. Negative attention includes things like scolding, correcting, and yelling. Let’s take a look at an example of positive and negative attention.