Well-developed listening skills are key in any relationship, but absolutely critical in families! Nothing damages relationships more over time, or strengthens them more, than being a good listener. Family should be a safe place to vocalize and work through challenges, wrestle with ideas, verbalize dreams, ask for help, and sound out thoughts - even wacky ones.

Yet, how often have you spent the time you should have been listening and understanding formulating your response to what another is saying in your mind? How often have prejudices, assumptions and immediate criticisms filtered and tainted what you have heard? How many times has thinking about "me" got in the way of listening to "you" (whoever that "you" may be)? How frequently do we answer before we have really heard? Age is no excuse. When a two-year old asks a question, it is the most important thing going on their little world at the time. Listen. I share this advice from years of experiencing being a terrible listener, also seeing the terrible fruit of my botched endeavors. I still struggle greatly. Thank God for His grace. Listening is not an easy skill. But it will make an incredible difference in your family dynamics and relationships, both here and now and in the future, in good times and the most challenging of times. Finally, it is critical to realize that if you want to be heard when you speak, be a good listener when others speak. Listening is a two-way street. "Let every man be swift to hear..." (Jas. 1:19b).