We recently launched a few new batches of our communications module. We have been having very engaging and interesting conversations with children and parents on this front. I'm going ahead and talking about the broad spectrum of misconceptions, complaints and concerns around communication skills:
Children first...
1. "Communication is about talking" - nothing can be further from the truth! Within 2 sessions children realized this!!!
2. "Listening is boring" - shattering this myth takes a bit longer, the process begins early on in the sessions though! Listening is a fine skill, it can make the difference between a winner (a person everyone wants to be with, a confidant, a great boss, a great entrepreneur...) and a smart-know-it-all (that everyone puts up with, at best!)
3. "Group, what group? Did I win?" - many children show a reluctance to work in groups, even going to an extent of changing their body language (wherein it seems smaller than usual or even contorted). Interestingly, even the ones that find it interesting, sometimes tend to dominate and not take the whole group with them (end up doing all the work and become the object of wrath from all the other members)
Parents..
1. "My child only needs communication skills" - for one, we acknowledge that as a parent your read may be quite right. However, there is a logic to putting communication skills in the middle of our program and running all three modules as part of a single program. Creative & Critical thinking helps build structure of thought in children along with confidence and a flexibility to start looking at the same problem, solution in different ways. This, in turn, leads to building a good foundation for the communication skills module. We see a large difference between children who have attended the 'creative & critical thinking' module and those who haven't when they come directly into the communication skills module. We would like to recommend that, if given a chance, you do it the order suggested. All the three modules are important for the whole brain development of the child.
2. "Child is shy, needs to open up/be more assertive" - becoming assertive in a group requires a set of skills to be developed ranging from awareness of emotions, self-awareness and flexibility to put forth a different response than the one you are used to, not to mention practice in this kind of behavior and positive feedback to take it forward. It takes time to develop these skills, it is not a one-shot exercise. It is possible to do and can be accelerated with your support and encouragement, but will not happen/sustain over night.
3. "Needs to open up at home" - several parents have this concern that child is not very communicative at home and we understand the concern because you genuinely want to know what is happening in the child's life. There are several reasons why a child may not share/be reticent at home and not be so at school/in a program like ours. For parents with this concern, please mention it to our facilitator and we can definitely help you out.
How to really understand communication skills? What is it really all about for children? ...will be covered in the next blog post - so keep checking for updates!
Children first...
1. "Communication is about talking" - nothing can be further from the truth! Within 2 sessions children realized this!!!
2. "Listening is boring" - shattering this myth takes a bit longer, the process begins early on in the sessions though! Listening is a fine skill, it can make the difference between a winner (a person everyone wants to be with, a confidant, a great boss, a great entrepreneur...) and a smart-know-it-all (that everyone puts up with, at best!)
3. "Group, what group? Did I win?" - many children show a reluctance to work in groups, even going to an extent of changing their body language (wherein it seems smaller than usual or even contorted). Interestingly, even the ones that find it interesting, sometimes tend to dominate and not take the whole group with them (end up doing all the work and become the object of wrath from all the other members)
Parents..
1. "My child only needs communication skills" - for one, we acknowledge that as a parent your read may be quite right. However, there is a logic to putting communication skills in the middle of our program and running all three modules as part of a single program. Creative & Critical thinking helps build structure of thought in children along with confidence and a flexibility to start looking at the same problem, solution in different ways. This, in turn, leads to building a good foundation for the communication skills module. We see a large difference between children who have attended the 'creative & critical thinking' module and those who haven't when they come directly into the communication skills module. We would like to recommend that, if given a chance, you do it the order suggested. All the three modules are important for the whole brain development of the child.
2. "Child is shy, needs to open up/be more assertive" - becoming assertive in a group requires a set of skills to be developed ranging from awareness of emotions, self-awareness and flexibility to put forth a different response than the one you are used to, not to mention practice in this kind of behavior and positive feedback to take it forward. It takes time to develop these skills, it is not a one-shot exercise. It is possible to do and can be accelerated with your support and encouragement, but will not happen/sustain over night.
3. "Needs to open up at home" - several parents have this concern that child is not very communicative at home and we understand the concern because you genuinely want to know what is happening in the child's life. There are several reasons why a child may not share/be reticent at home and not be so at school/in a program like ours. For parents with this concern, please mention it to our facilitator and we can definitely help you out.
How to really understand communication skills? What is it really all about for children? ...will be covered in the next blog post - so keep checking for updates!
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