Do you really Listen?

I have been thinking alot about the way I listen to people.
Have you ever been talking to someone and just notice they seem
to be hurrying you up just by their very posture?
The way their eyes never really engage you.You can tell their not
the least bit interested in what your saying.
I wonder what it would feel like to talk to my Lord face to face.
I wonder if he would give me that nod of ok are you through yet?
I wonder if he would turn his eyes from me.
Of course we all know the answer to those questions.
If we're supposed to be imitators of our Lord than I think
we need to slow down and really listen to others.
I try to teach the kids that your body posture says more than your words.
If we are to really die to ourselves than we have to master listening to
others. It's not always fun or enjoyable but it's something our Lord does
well and so we should also.

So how do we teach this in our home:
1- teach our older children to stop and get down on the younger ones level and make eye contact.
2-I teach our boys that when their listening or talking with an adult to stand at attention and put their hands behind their back.This just reminds them that who their
talking to demands their respect and undivided attention.Not because of who they are but because of the position they hold.
3-I practice with the younger boys to always look adults in the eyes when their talking to them.We set up sessions in our home where they pretend they are talking to
someone from our church or their grandma ete..You have to practice this for it to become a habit. This is part of our school. I will get the boys to be playing ball and Taylor will pretend to be Mrs. Brown who walks by and talks to Cooper and I will walk him through how he is supposed to stop stand with his hands behind his back and look her in the eyes and how he is even supposed to respond to her questions.
For example: Hello Cooper how are you?
I'm fine Mrs. Brown how are you?

So Cooper what have you been doing?
Please teach your kids not to say "nothing"

I have been playing with my brothers and learning to read.


Ok Cooper have a great day.
You have a great day too Mrs.Brown


This will become second nature to your children if you start teaching it early.
We make a game of it and it's fun and we love when they put into practice what
we have been teaching them..

Kids that have manners are not an accident, they have been taught and they have
practiced using their manners over and over...


So as I go about my day today I'm going to try and Really listen to the people I come in contact with today.

Robin