Being a good communicator includes showing interest in the thoughts of others. One way to promote this is to be a good listener yourself. When your child wants to tell you about school or friends, make eye contact and give him your full focus by turning away from the computer or switching off the television. You can also help children practice listening by reading with them. Pause to ask questions about what has been covered so far and discuss how characters expressed their feelings.
Verbal skills may also be taught by demonstrating them yourself, such as showing children what qualifies as either appropriate questions or responses during conversations. When asking questions, avoid those that can be answered with “yes” or “no.” Encourage children to describe or explain things, give them plenty of time to do so and avoid interrupting. Children can also be motivated to improve the quality of their speech through challenges. For example, devise a contest to see who can explain something with the least amount of junk words like "uh," "um," "like" and "you know."
Journaling thoughts and experiences is an effective way for children to learn to communicate through writing. It also expands vocabularies, increases clarity and enhances abilities to be descriptive but concise. If a child writes, “I feel sad today,” ask her to write why and what would make her feel better. If he writes, “I love basketball,” suggest he explain why. In such exercises, the child should strive to write expressively without rambling and causing the reader to lose interest. Having children write out directions to a location or for completing a task challenges them to carefully consider proper answers and express themselves clearly.
Because body language often express a person’s feelings better than words can, children need to recognize negative signals that relate such things as anger, fear or boredom, as well as signs that indicate interest, anticipation and other positive feelings. You can show children different facial expressions, stances, gestures and postures to help them recognize the unspoken feelings of other people. Asking children to show you these non-verbal expressions helps bring awareness of their own body language.
Another important skill of a good communicator is knowing when to be silent. Understanding people may be too busy, tired or sad to talk about something helps children learn to respect feelings and encourages empathy. It is also important they respect others by not trying to talk over someone. Having the child try to recite the Pledge of Allegiance while you sing a song will quickly show them just how annoying and disruptive this is.