Three Changes To Make Now with Children at Any Age

If you grew up with CEN, you know the painful ways in which you felt unseen and unheard. You longed for your parent(s) to ask you about your inner world or simply put aside their evening hobbies to eat dinner with you. 

Growing with up CEN was likely a lonely experience and as a parent you can now take small steps to make a big impact on your children and break the cycle.

Sometimes it's difficult to know what to do with your kid(s) even when you remember what you wanted and needed as a little one. 

While there are countless connection building activities, here are three changes you can make now to have a positive impact on your child in an effort to prevent CEN from stalling your most precious relationships.

1. Talk More

We often get lost in the day to day routines of life and run on auto-pilot and talking to one another may fall by the way side. Consider talking to your child(ren) about yourself, your views, and what matters to you as well as asking your child what their views are and what matters to them. When you take the time to communicate with them, it automatically tells them that they matter!

2. Get Curious

Ask your child about what's going on in their life and inside their head. Getting curious about the day-to-day like what happened at school or follow up on details of what happened with their friends. Getting to know them and showing you are interested in their life sends the message that you care.

3. Use More Emotion Words

Not only are using emotion words educational, but using them allows for kids to increase their own emotional awareness as well as the understand the emotions of others. Sharing feeling words as part of your own expression normalizes feelings talk and creates more meaningful exchanges.

If you'd like to learn other ways of connecting with your child and enriching your relationship, but grew up with CEN yourself, consider reaching out to avoid passing down the invisible wounds of Childhood Emotional Neglect.