Active listening

When I was a classroom teacher, I told my students at the beginning of each year that the measure of my success as a teacher was my teaching them to listen well. If I taught them to listen well, all realms of learning and communication would be open to them; if I failed, those doors would remain closed. I still think that this assertion is true, and therefore in parenting one of the most important roles a parent has is to teach active listening skills.

I recently saw a text article from Desiring God pop up on my rss reader titled Ten Reasons to Listen to Questions Before You Answer. It is an excellent Biblical, theological and practical explanation of why listening is so important. It is not the sort of thing that you'll read to your three year old (you can wait until she's four); but it provides the intellectual framework for explaining to your children from Scripture and experience why listening is so important.