Montessori Childrens House
of the west coast

Create a Climate of Mutual Respect

Posted on Friday, March 28, 2008

Create and maintain a reciprocal avenue of open, honest communication with your child so that she or he feels welcome to initiate discussions concerning sensitive, personal issues.  Be a good non-judgmental listener and model the art of open communication.  Children will often bring up topics for discussion that will make adults feel uncomfortable, especially if those topics are around bodily functions.  With young children generally a simple straightforward answer is all that is needed.  They really are not interested in all the complicated details.  Questions around the anatomical differences between boys and girls or where babies come from is a good example.  The details are not so important, but the tone of your answer is.  Straightforward with little emotion is always best. This allows your child to feel that questions concerning sensitive topic can be brought up again without embarrassment.  When your child is older, this openness and willingness to discuss personal topics will be of utmost importance and prevent a lot of misinformation.