Jennifer N. Smith - How to Get Your Kids to Listen to You--Communicating with Your Toddler, Tween, Teen and Older Children – Know How to Get Through to Your Kids

How To Get Your Kids To Listen To You

Communicating with Your Toddler, Tween, Teen and Older Children Know How to Get Through to Your Kids

Jennifer N. Smith

PUBLISHED BY:

Jennifer N. Smith

Copyright 2020 All rights reserved

Copyright and Disclaimer

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication maybe reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the publisher of this book.

Introduction

I ts the same story everywhere.

The moment your new baby home, theirs is the only voice to be heard anywhere. Your newborn would cry to get your attention, and your toddler would simply ignore your instructions. Your tween will start showing signs of rebellion and your teenager would dismiss any suggestion or advice that you might have. Even your grown-up children arent much better, are they?

Kids never listen thats the universal truth. Its not a comment on your parenting style, and certainly not your failure as a parent. You can have all the wisdom in the world stored in your brain, but your children would never want to listen to you. Thats just the way it is with children and parents.

Trust me, I know.

My Story

Even just a few months ago, my home was a daily war zone. With a 6-year-old and a 2-year-old, someone would be screaming all the time. Either it would be me, my kids, or all three of us simultaneously. Not an hour would go by that someone wouldnt lose their mind, get frustrated and start to scream. As I was working from home at the moment, this would go on the whole day. My husband would come home from work to a screaming match, and it wasnt something he appreciated. Not day after day, after day.

To say that all our relationships were suffering would have been an understatement. Tired of screaming at the children all day, nagging and repeating myself, I wanted nothing more than a break at the end of the day. As a result, I would simply hand the kids over to my husband, who was tired from work, and vanish into the bedroom, excusing myself with a migraine. The kids, who had both scream like banshees all day and ignored all my instructions, would behave like little angels in front of my husband, just because they were missing him all the day.

Things got too complicated within a few months. My eldest, 6-years-old at the moment, had begun showing behavioral problems immediately after the birth of her sister. Overnight, she had become a jealous, malicious child from someone who was sweet tempered and disciplined. I had noticed the changes in her, but I was too busy taking care of my newborn child, my home, and my part-time job, to properly assess the situation. She stopped listening to me, started to directly disobey me, and even ignoring me at one point. As soon as my youngest reached her 2nd birthday, she started following her sisters behavioral patterns.

Suddenly, I was stuck with two children who, as it seemed to me, wanted nothing to do with me. I was their mother and they were practically ignoring me. My relationship with my husband, unfortunately, wasnt so great either. In such a small family, we were all basically resenting each other, minimizing our contact with each other. Personally, I was counting the days till they are grown up and I wouldnt have to deal with their day-to-day activities.

My Realization

One day, I suddenly decided that enough was enough. I wasnt having any more impertinence and disobedience in my home. I was missing out on the best years of my childrens lives, and it was, to some extent, my own fault. Letting bygones be bygones, I was determined to make my kids listen to me and bring back some order into my home, whatever it took.

My Journey

I started researching parenting techniques. I must have bought tens of dozens of parenting books and gone through a million blogs on the articles. I talked to my friends who had children, to the other moms at my kids schools, and even asked my mother, grandmother and aunts for advice. I asked, unabashedly, for advice to help my situation. I laid down all the facts out to them and asked them their expert opinion on how to approach my kids. Some of the advice I got was gold!

We all have different parenting styles and I wouldnt say I agreed to every advice I got. But I noted down every single advice that made sense to me, and decided on the ones I would apply in my family. I had a whole outline made, my take on each approach that I would use on specific situations.

I did, and although it took time, they worked. No, it wasnt a miracle. I didnt say anything so special that my kids started to take notice of me immediately. It took weeks, even months, before I could get through the day without screaming. But after all the time and effort, I could finally get my children to notice me when I speak, listen to my words and follow my instructions.

It hadnt been easy, but I had finally learned to connect and communicate with my kids, and my relationship with my husband eventually improved, as well. My eldest is almost 7 years old now, and I couldnt have asked for a better child. It doesnt mean that she never rebels or disobeys me, but her tantrums have reduced drastically. My almost 3-year-old follows whatever her sister is doing, and is also being a model child. Most of the time.

Then, one day, I suddenly bumped into an old classmate at a coffee shop. She was alone but I had both my kids with me, thankfully, in a good mood. Watching them for a while, my friend exclaimed: Wow! How did you get them to be so well behaved?

I wanted to take her through my whole journey at that very moment, but we didnt have the time. Instead, I made up my mind, then and there, to share my story with other parents out there who are also having trouble making their children listen to them. I decided to share my history with the other struggling parents and try to make their journey somewhat easier than mine was. Thats how this book was born!

So. what can you find in this book?

This book is a compilation of everything I know about making your children listen to you. This is everything I have researched from the Internet, read in parenting books, heard from other parents and applied in my own family. Ive divided this book into several sections, according to the age of the child you have to deal with. Theres also a separate chapter at the beginning of this book which will help you to pinpoint the reasons behind your kids behavior.

So, heres hoping my life experiences and my book can help you and your family to some extent. I would love nothing more than if I can bring a single kid and parent closer to each other with my s tory.

Thank you and good luck!