Stop “Listening” and Start Listening

~Janet’s Blog

Listening = Open & Shut Case

Hearing is easy. Listening is work. You know that lovely mouth that God blessed you with? Sometimes, you just have to shut it!

That may sound harsh but, seriously, one of the best gifts we can give to anyone–family, friend or stranger–is our listening ears. Not our motor-mouths.

Our focus here is especially on communicating well with our kids, but we’ll get there by looking first at listening, in more general terms.

We have all seen many versions of “listening.” And we have, all of us, used each of these ways. Let’s take a look at them. (more…)