The Silent Ask - 5-9 Year Olds
Scripts and strategies for what your elementary-school age child can't tell you
Before you scroll down and read the script, read this first.
Your school age child has more words than they did as a toddler. They can tell you they’re hungry, they can tell you they’re tired, they can tell you their friend was mean to them at school. But there is a whole category of feeling that still sits beyond their reach. The feelings that live in the space between themselves and the people they love most. The feelings about their place in the family, their value in your eyes, whether they matter as much as the child sitting next to them at the dinner table.
Listen to the companion podcast episode:
The Silent Ask - 5-9 year olds
“It’s not fair.” Three words every parent of a school age child knows intimately. And almost always, they have nothing to do with whatever triggered them.
Those feelings don’t come out as “I’m worried you love my sister more than me.” They come out as “it’s not fair.”
And before you brace yourself for the next time you hear those three words, I want you to hear what they actually mean.
It’s not fair is rarely about the thing.
It is about this:
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Halal Parenting to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.