Whole-Body Listening

Listening is a skill that serves as the foundation for all good communication. One of the most common scenarios encountered in child and adolescent psychiatry is one where a child verbalizes that their parent doesn’t listen, while the parent insists that they do. Whole-body listening is a framework that can be implemented by parents to engage in effective communication with their kids. Listening with the ears and eyes involves the utilization of verbal and nonverbal forms of communication. Listening with the heart involves showing compassion, while listening with the brain requires reading between the lines and understanding implied messages. Listening with the mouth involves reflective listening through speech to acknowledge a child’s point and provide validation and empathy. Finally, listening with the hands and feet involves following up words with actions. Each component of whole-body listening builds a tangible framework for children to identify elements of listening that parents might not execute well, and for parents to use to reflect and improve their listening with an end goal of prioritizing empathy over compliance and agreement.