How to get your kid to listen
Why “not listening” isn’t really the problem—and how to finally get through to your kid without yelling, repeating, or losing your mind
Normally, when I write these articles, I have to spend some time thinking of some examples of when I’ve worked with a parent who struggled with the topic behavior or rack my memory about my childhood... But when it comes to “kids not listening,” it’s not so much a matter of having to “think” of an example… It’s more like “which one should I pick from the last hour or two?”
Kids “not listening” is a virtually universal experience of parents, not only for millennial parents, but going back for literally millennia. Before I jump into some practical strategies for more effectively communicating with the tiny humans, I first want to clarify something…
Most of the time, we say our kids won’t “listen,” it’s really not so much about listening as obeying. Now, there is no doubt that if your kid is engrossed in their iPad, you could probably tell them you were taking them to Disney World RIGHT NOW and they still might not look up, but this is the exception, not the rule (don’t worry, I have a hack for that too, later).
Most of the time though, it’s less about “not hearing” than it is about compliance.
