Listen...

My kids talk a lot and there are times I have to remind myself to stop and listen. Andrew is so confident and is not satisfied until he knows for certain that I comprehended everything he just finished saying. (I'm sure it has something to do with his speach issues). He literally demands a true response, no "oh really?" "umhmm?" "oh" or he'll ask, "did you understand what I said?" For as long as I can remember, Rebecca will always make eye contact with the person she is talking to. She'll tilt her little head and get in your face so that you are looking at her while she speaks and she'll say, "ok?" to verify that she is being understood.

 I love this quote. I know that I hate when people jump to conclusions or interrupt me before I am done talking because they think they know what I am about to say next. I never want my kids to think that I do that to them, because there are MANY times they take their story in a whole different direction then I ever thought it would go had I assumed how it was going to end! Growing up, my mom always talked with us. We were always able to voice our opinions (didn't mean we would be the ones making the decisions or we were always right or anything) but we always knew that we had a voice and our voice was being heard. I could never ask "too many" questions. Honesty was always so important as well. When we spoke back and forth, she was not manipulating anything or lying, we were always able to express ourselves honestly without judgement.

"If you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all"---that's not true, sometimes we have to talk about things that aren't always sweet or nice. Sometimes we have to say things that may hurt someone or hear things about ourselves that are not nice. What's important is that those not so nice topics or words come from a good place. That they are not to lash out and hurt, but instead to hopefully improve things.

Now that I am an adult, I realize how important that communication is. I love that I have a voice with my parents and that has influenced my relationship with my brothers. We have a mutual respect for one another because we always know where we stand. I feel like it's because we are able to actually communicate and we all listen. We don't always agree and we aren't always nice...but we are heard and I appreciate that. I hope my kids will always know how much I value what they are saying. Even if it means I get to talk about Star Wars and Princesses all day!