My older brother has encouraged (and slightly forced) me to listen to parenting audiobooks so I can better handle my wildlings. I can’t say that I would have listened to them on my own and after finishing two of them (Siblings Without Rivalries and How to Talk so Your Kids Listen), I’ve picked up a few things to put in my toolbox. It’s been helpful to digest and reflect on the lessons and stories from those audiobooks because sometimes going full steam ahead as a parent doesn’t give you the space to take a step back.

One of the most important takeaways from the audiobooks or to actually start by listening to your kids. They have a lot to say and a lot that they’re going through, so taking the time to truly listen is more than half the battle. Another takeaway is to make sure that they are treating the family unit as a team and that if they have any siblings, they are the closest teammates that truly need to work together to accomplish things. Sometimes it seems obvious and that those things are easy to do, but to do a consistently is very difficult (at least for me). By taking a step back and reflecting after listening to the audiobooks, it definitely keeps those lessons at the front of my situational processing as things unfold. I feel like I’m better able to handle and plan what to do as my kids are going haywire at times. While I’m not perfect, I have been much better after listening to those audiobooks at handling challenging situations.

After listening to the first audiobook, I came home from a trip and the playroom was a mess. Instead of asking each person to clean up their mess and point out who is doing a better job at cleaning, I set a timer like the audiobook suggested and said that my kids need to work as a team to clean up the playroom before the timer went off. I set a five minute timer and off they went. I’ve never seen the move so quickly, especially to clean the playroom. They said they had so much fun and we try to do it now when the playroom needs to be cleaned quickly. It doesn’t always work with them, but it’s more successful than telling them to clean because with a timer, it seems like a game.

I’m glad that my brother pushed me to listen to those parenting audiobooks and I’m sure my kids will thank him also once they understand how it positively shaped their childhood. Taking advice and being open to improving is important and I want the same traits in my kids. You don’t always have to listen to all of the advice, but if you actually listen and process what others are saying, I’m sure there’s certain pieces of advice that are applicable. It’s funny how self improvement also starts by listening - the same strategy for dealing with kids!