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Christian Parenting Articles |
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Talking with Your Child: Case 3
You were sitting in the living room and you could hear the sound of laser beams coming from your bedroom. Your 10-year old boy had been at the computer for the past 35 minutes. He was supposed to stop playing 5 minutes ago.My Response
- Deal with the external noise
- Get the child's attention before speaking
- Get to know the kid’s world
Do not try to compete with the sound of laser beams by shouting from the living room. The external noise is likely to distort the message in transmission ... there may be omission from or addition to the message transmitted.
Here you are dealing with internal noise in the child … his mind is preoccupied with something else. Go into the bedroom and touch your son’s shoulder to get his attention.
Recognize that if you are in the middle of a dogfight with an enemy spaceship, it’s hard to quit immediately. Tell him that he had overshot his time and ask him to stop playing soon. Wait for some form of acknowledgement of reception of message.