Communication is crucial to excelling in any stage of life. And, instilling good communication skills from a young age will prep children to face the world confidently. We are all aware that childhood is the period when soft skills can be easily honed for kids. This is when they tend to learn fast and pick up new things at a fast pace.
So, as parents, you can make use of this golden period and make sure your child is able to develop his/her communication skills. And the best way to develop communication skills is to start at home.
If you are a parent lost on the internet looking for ways to develop your child’s communication skills, then do not fret. In this article, we will walk you through 6 pointers to improve your child’s verbal communication.
6 Ways to Improve Your Child’s Verbal Communication
- Engage in conversation with them
Kids with poor communication may not be interested in talking at all. So, as a parent, let your child know that talking is easy. You can do this by engaging in conversation with them. Do not expect them to respond in the beginning – it would mostly be a one-sided conversation. But keep chatting with them. Talk about stuff that would interest them and be relevant to them. Tell them about your day when you return home. While cooking, talk to them about the dish and how you prepare it. This kind of engagement will make your child comfortable with conversation in the room.
- Introduce them to the habit of reading
Reading is the starting point to effective communication. The practice of reading books regularly will help your children familiarize themselves with speech sounds and understand the English language better. Reading will also introduce them to new words they can include in their vocabulary. You can start off by reading stories to your kids at night and as they become more interested, you can hand over the baton and they will take up reading themselves.
- Ask them about their day
Your child should feel comfortable while speaking. When you encourage your child to speak, ask them questions about your day. This would be a topic they are familiar with so they will find it easy to talk about. Similarly, ask them open-ended questions so they have the space to answer elaborately. A simple yes or no question would not keep the conversation going. It tends to kill the conversation and children would not be comfortable with it.
- Help them with body language
Body language and gestures are an integral part of communication. How we carry ourselves and how we move our hands while we speak to send a message across to the receiver. These are usually known as non-verbal cues. Knowing to send and sense these cues will help children a long way in communicating their feelings. So, explain to your kids what body language means and what each gesture would convey. For example, crossing your hands would show that you are angry at someone or when you roll your eyes, it denotes sarcasm.
- Play conversational catch
Kids love to play games. So, it is a good idea to have a conversation while playing a game. This would be of more interest to kids rather than sitting across a table and talking. Play the conversational catch with your kids. Start by throwing a ball to your kid and ask a question – “How was your day?” Your kid has to catch the ball, answer your question, and before throwing the ball back to you has to ask you a question. Repeating this back and forth will build a conversation between the two of you and your child will also have fun in the conversation.
- Gift your kid a personal diary
Some children think a lot before they speak. They would want to give a lot of thought and then have a conversation. To encourage this, gift your kids a journal or diary to write about their day, feelings, and opinions. They can write whatever they feel like in it – any silly fights they had, how their food tasted that day, was their day good or bad, etc. Writing stuff down like this will help them improve their writing skills as well as structure their thoughts before sharing them with others.
School-going kids learn how to interact and discuss both in school and at home. Your children will need your support and help in becoming effective communicators. So, make sure you are there for them to help communicate better. We hope the above 6 pointers will come in handy to improve your children’s verbal communication.
