Think Before You Speak

From FOCUS ON THE FAMILY, Today, 07-Apr-2008 edition

 

THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK

By Dr Bill Maier

 

“Think before you speak,” we tell our children. But how well

are we taking our own advice?

 

Very few of us would intentionally say things that hurt

our children’s feelings, but too often the words we use

can confuse them and do a lot of emotional damage –

especially when they are young.

 

Put yourself in the place of a young girl going through

puberty. She develops a little chubbiness around her middle,

and her friends have already made fun of her at school.

 

Imagine how she feels when her mother says to her:

“Do you really need to eat that dessert?”

 

Or what about the boy who struggles to do well in school

and then has to sit and listen as his parents brag about

his sister’s straight-A average?

 

What we say and how we say it can do irreparable harm

to our children’s self-image.

 

It may be a perfectly harmless comment, yet our children

may take it as a major insult.