Focused Listening

Nov 13, 2013 by Jim and Jerolyn Bogear

Recently, we were in a restaurant waiting for our table when I overhead a little girl say to her sibling, “If you don’t listen to me, it’s going to take me forever to tell the story.”

I thought of how many times I fail to listen. I mean really listen. Taking the time to set down whatever I am doing. Stopping my brain from following the trail it is already on. Looking at the person talking. And completely focus on what they are saying – with their words, their facial expressions, their hands. Totally absorbed with their communication.

I’m afraid we don’t do this kind of listening very often. We have become multi-taskers who must continue doing whatever we are doing while lending a partial ear to what the other person is saying.

Why can’t we just stop and listen?

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Listen – Part 2: What Did You Say?

Nov 15, 2012 by Jim and Jerolyn Bogear

 

If you didn’t catch Part 1, read that blog post before proceeding…..

Done? Okay.

With some small children, getting them to talk has never been a problem. In fact, if you have that child, you are frantically searching for the blog on shutting your kid up. It seems like they will never be quiet. You all know those kids – or may have them.

In fact, I sat near one at a restaurant last week. He was an adorable 4-year-old that just wanted to have daddy’s complete attention and tell him everything under the sun – more than a couple of times. Dad patiently let him prattle on about whatever came into his mind and added an occasional response to his monologue. It was very sweet, and I’m sure that young dad had only a vague idea of the precious moment he was experiencing.

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Listen – Part 1: Getting Them to Talk

Nov 13, 2012 by Jim and Jerolyn Bogear

 

Jim and I recently became certified coaches. One of the parts of the training I really loved (and needed) was how to become a better listener. I don’t know about you, but while I’m listening, I tend to be formulating my response, retort, or counterpoint. When I’m doing that, I’m just not really listening.

Now I absolutely love to listen to my children. Their conversations can be intriguing, whimsical, dreamy, and full of potential. But one of the struggles many parents have before they can listen to their children, is to get their children to talk – especially their teenagers. So I started thinking about what gets my kids to talk.

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