The ability to converse well is one of the most essential life skills which must be instilled in growing children as this can help them in developing healthy bonding and sustain lasting relationships with their loved ones. Children’s ability to communicate well can enhance their overall performance in school as well and with good conversation skills, they can participate actively in classroom learning activities and develop better understanding of different subjects. Moreover, if children know how to put across their thoughts effectively, they can excel in extra-curricular activities such as debates & discussions. So, it is important for parents to take initiative and enhance their child’s language and speech to build the art of conversation in children and to help them emerge as champions in school and also develop strong bond in personal relationships.
As a parent, you can help your child to strengthen her communication skills at home in a number of ways, like by improving her clarity of speech, enhancing her vocabulary, inculcating voice modulation etc. You just need to provide her with moral support whenever she faces difficulty, such as at times when she is not able to find suitable words to express herself appropriately in front of others. Here are some tips that will be useful for you to help your child build her communication skills.
Maintain healthy environment for communication at home – Maintain a pleasant learning environment at home, wherein your child can grow up by observing loving relationships and also understand the value of such relationships. Moreover, by listening and using good language & gestures, your child will be able to improve her conversation skills. So, maintain strong bonding and healthy relationships with everyone at home. Never indulge in fights and arguments with each other in front of your child and also avoid shouting or talking in a high pitch at home. Further, avoid using bad language, abusive words and slang in your child’s presence, because she may tend to grasp such bad words and use them without even knowing what they really mean.
Bring in clarity of speech in your child – To bring in the clarity of speech in your child, ask her to speak clearly in a way that is properly audible to others and does not require her to repeat what she says. Also, encourage your child to use simple yet complete sentences, through which she can put across her thoughts well. In addition, demonstrate how to speak clearly during different situations, such as during one-on-one conversation; while talking in a group; while addressing a large number of people etc. You can choose the topic of your child’s interest and encourage her to give her views on it. Further, you can also conduct mock sessions of speeches and conversations at home with your child.
Watch out for speech problems in your child – If you find symptoms of stammering in your child, such as difficulty in starting with a word, phrase or a sentence; problem in pronouncing words; or repetition of certain sounds or words, then make sure that you rectify this problem as soon as possible. Help your child to overcome this problem by assisting her to pronounce words correctly. Also, if your child substitutes the sound ‘s’ with ‘th’, help her to overcome the problem by giving her continuous practise. For the purpose, you may provide her with a list of words that end with the sound ‘s’ & ask her to spell them correctly. Further, encourage her to practice them regularly until she learns how to pronounce the words correctly without sound substitution. However, you should consult a speech therapist, if such speech problems persist in your child.
Teach her about voice modulation – Apart from the clarity in speech, your child should also know about voice modulations. So, get her acquainted with pitch & volume control and voice modulation. Teach her that it is very important to control the pitch and the volume to focus on certain words and sentences. Show your child how to control pitch of her voice to suit different expressions. For instance, be firm when you want to discipline your child; speak in low voice when you are talking to her one-on-one; raise your pitch when she is at a distance. You may also indulge her in activities for voice modulation, such as reading and encourage her to practice reading by giving enough pauses & stresses in between sentences, to express various kinds of emotions.
Enrich your child’s vocabulary – Enrich your child’s vocabulary by introducing her to various synonyms of a word. Also, teach her how to add adjectives to simple sentences. In addition, instruct your child to consult a dictionary to find out the meaning of words that are new to her, while reading her lessons. Further, you may play a variety of word games at home, like Scrabble; word puzzles etc. to improve your child’s vocabulary.
Use technology to build communication skills – If you feel that your child can learn the art of conversation and improve her communication skills effectively through technology, then look for audio & visual aid. You may purchase CDs and DVDs consisting of audio or video recordings of conversations between two people, among a group or speech addressing a large number of people. Instruct your child to follow the recordings thoroughly. Such recordings will assist your child in learning how to initiate conversation, modulate pitch of voice during different situations; maintain politeness while talking to others and also how to take the conversation forward, effectively.
Encourage her to listen – To help your child become anactive listener during conversations, indulge her in activities that involve listening. For example, narrate stories to her and at the end of the narration, ask her questions from the stories to figure out whether she listened to you properly or not. Make this a regular practice; so that your child shows patience and interest in lending an ear while others talk.
Encourage your child to take turns while talking – A good way to improve listening skills of your child is to encourage her to take turns during conversation. Tell your child that she needs to give others enough chance to speak and also wait for her turn to talk. You can make this as a habit for your child, right from home, by indulging all the family members into fruitful conversations with her. So, have at least one meal a day together with all members of the family and encourage everyone to indulge in conversation wherein they shall take turns to express their views. While doing so, make sure that your child gets enough chances to put across her thoughts as well. So, motivate your child to get actively involved in the conversation and encourage the rest of the family to help her in enhancing the clarity of her speech.
Help your child to express herself freely – Provide your child with enough opportunities at home wherein she can express herself freely, without hesitation. So, indulge in talks with your child and provide her with enough opportunities to take the lead. Let your child talk without being interrupted and do not cut her short in the middle of a sentence and also do not finish the sentences for her. Further, allow your child to take enough time to find suitable words to express her thoughts, whenever she is stuck in the middle of telling you something.
Encourage personal talk – At the end of the day, sit next to your child and indulge in personal talks with her. While talking to your child, if you ask your child a question, give a pause to show that you are waiting for her reply. In addition,encourage her to talk about her favourite things, such as her favourite game, toy, ice-cream flavour etc. By doing so, you will be able to make your child become more expressive and this will help you to correct her speech wherever required.
Teach her to greet people – Explain your child the importance of greeting people with wishes such as “Good Morning”, “Good Evening” etc. during conversations. Further, instruct her to make use of casual greetings such as “Hello”, “Hi” while meeting her friends and say “Good Bye” or “See you later” etc. before leaving. You may create similar situations at home and practise dialogues with your child. Also, enact how to greet each other during conversations. Further, explain her that greeting is an act of politeness that she should follow at all places.
Show her how to give introductions – Your child’s communication skills, to some extent, will reflect from her confidence in introducing herself to others. Therefore, train your child to give introductions in an impressive manner. You can practise this at home by demonstrating how to introduce yourself to different people in different social situations, in a way that can develop good rapport among others and also project confidence.
Ask her to take care of her body language – Monitor your child’s body language and explain her that she needs to take good care of her gestures while talking. This is because use of appropriate gestures and maintaining proper body language will project a positive image. Tell her that gestures are an important part of the art of conversation. So, teach your child some important gestures that can make communication effective, such as nodding while listening, maintaining good posture while standing and sitting etc. Also , instruct her to avoid sitting cross-legged, especially in front of elders. In addition, tell her to talk face to face and maintain proper eye contact while talking.
In the end, remember that by using polite words, good language and proper gestures, your child will grow up as respectable and well-mannered adult. However, you should remember that the ability of your child to learn the art of conversation may depend upon her grasping power, her ability to follow your words & actions and also on her age & level of development. Therefore, observe her words and actions right at her tender age. Correct her whenever needed and demonstrate acceptable behaviour. Further, show your patience, love and affection to help her learn at her own pace. In the end , remember that with practice and patience, your child will be able to learn the art of conversation well.
