Last night I sat around with other "speech nerds" and talked for hours about any and everything related to speech pathology. Any one else around would have been bored to tears, but we had a ball! Why? Because we had a shared interest, our conversation went on well into the night. Consider this scenario. You walk into a party where you know no one. One group is talking about the history of world religion in the 1900s and another group is talking about which singer they liked best on last night's reality television show. Which one are you going to feel most comfortable to approach? Unless you are up on your history, I'm pretty sure you're heading to the group where you might have something to contribute. Our quality of interaction and conversation is better when we share interest with others. We would all feel more a part of the party if we were able to interact on a level we were comfortable with. Now let's think of this in the context of our children. Do your children jump right into a conversation about your love of broccoli or, even better, the school summer reading list? I'm guessing probably not. But what if you went over while they're playing "Zombie Aliens" and asked them about the game? You're probably going to get more interaction there! Take some time today to watch and see what your children are interested in ~ what they are choosing to do for fun. Then share that interest for a few minutes and see what happens. What you should see is a longer interaction with your child. Even if your child doesn't yet have words, just showing that you are interested in something they are lends value to the quality of the interaction. Commit some time today to share some interests with your child. Remember, everyone wants to be part of the party!
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