Have You Been Listening with Your Eyes?

I found this on the recent book I read, Have a Little Faith by Mitch Albom (P.59) and thought I'd share it with you here.

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A little girl came home from school with a drawing she'd made in class. She danced into the kitchen, where her mother was preparing dinner.

"Mom, guess what?", she squealed, waving the drawing.

Her mother never looked up.

"What?",  She said, tending to the pots.

"Guess what?" The child repeated, waving the drawing.

"What?" the mother said, tending to the plates.

"Mom, you're not listening"

"Sweetie, yes I am"

"Mom", the child said. "You're not listening with your eyes".

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Don't we hate it when we talk to someone and his/her eyes are not looking at us? We hate it because makes us feel ignored and less valuable.

Sadly, there are times when our kids are talking to us and our eyes are so focus on the Blackberry screen instead of on their sparkling innocent eyes :(. Isn't it ironic that as mother we always say proudly that kids are our number one priority, yet on day to day basis, we always seem to multitask the most important people in our life with the not so important things, like reading time line on our Twitter or replying someone's BBM :(

So yes, that's just a friendly reminder *sort of a note to (MY) self* that to really listen to our children, we have to put aside whatever we're doing at the moment, squat to their  eye level and look them in the eyes. Listening is different than hearing. Hearing is something that just happens, but listening requires more effort. Listening demands concentration so we can process the words and comprehend what's exactly they are saying and understand their feelings. Listening leads to learning and helps us connect with them. And if we want them to listen to us, we better listen to them first.

May we  be a good listener to our children, the one who listens with her ears, eyes and heart :).

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Selamat Hari Raya Idul Adha untuk yang merayakan. Enjoy your time with your family :))