Making someone feel heard

The skill of making someone feel heard and understood is one of the greatest gifts you can give anyone. I have trained parents and teachers in developing this skill and have found everyone can learn this skill with practise.

At the same time, the greatest challenge in learning this skill is to be able to listen to the other person wihout your own 'emotional baggage' creating too much noise between your ears.

This is about being able to listen to what they are saying through THEIR world perspective, their understandings, and their motivations. Being able to differentiate between whis is your 'STUFF' and which is theirs is critical to really deep listening.

That is why we have designed the following exercise to help you learn some responses so they are on the tip of your tongue.

We have split up the exercises into age ranges (age 5, age 10, and age 16) to give a sense of the different kinds of things that age range may say. Each age range has the same practice structure as the other ones. I encourage you to practise ALL of them as learning these skills is not about age ranges, but about your ability to listen and respond.

Age 5 group:

Exercise 1: This exercise is divided up into three levels. The first level is to refine your reflective listening skills. Then we look at listening deeper to the what is driving and motivating their communication. And fianlly, the third level is listening for what they are really wanting you to know.

Age 10 group:

Exercise 1:This exercise is divided up into three levels. The first level is to refine your reflective listening skills. Then we look at listening deeper to the what is driving and motivating their communication. And fianlly, the third level is listening for what they are really wanting you to know.