A large focus of my parenting is fostering open communication with Boo, and building her emotional intelligence.

The day care Boo attended for 4 years was very committed to developing emotional intelligence in children, and this helped a lot with reinforcing what we were doing at home particularly around identifying and learning how to deal with feelings and emotions.

As for communicating and connecting with Boo, I have several strategies. I want Boo to always be able to talk to me about anything and everything with the knowledge that she won’t be judged and that I am here to help her delve through the muddy waters of life as well as share her good times.

A couple of years ago, I had dinner with the lovely Fe from Lumsdaine Photography and her sons. At dinner time Fe and her boys do Best and Worst, where each of them has a turn of talking about the best thing and the worst thing of their day. I felt privileged to be asked to join in by the boys and I was awed that Fe and her teen and pre-teen boys had such open and honest communication. Of course Best and Worst has also become a dinner time ritual at our house.

A few ago, Adele Feletto Publicity asked me if I’d like a sample of Wise Talk for Families to try. After reading the media blurb, it sounded like an excellent communication tool for Boo and I to use at bedtime

Wise Talk for Families  – a new, unique and interactive story based board-game for Australian families encouraging parents and children to connect on a much more frequent basis in a more profound way.

Being a working, sole parent, and with Boo now at full time school, I sometimes feel there are days where we have had no meaningful communication or quality time together. We were both excited to try out Wise Talk for Families when it arrived, I wouldn’t call it a board game though, though Boo does call it the the talking game!

Boo selects one of the alphabet discs which directs you to a page in the booklet included, and then with the help of the booklet we share stories. The book is based on the fundamentals of ASK, GIVE and SHARE,  and helps the parent open the communication for 5-10 minute session of undivided attention.

Over the past couple of weeks, while we’ve been using Wise Talk for Families we have not only shared stories on the topic we have selected but it has opened the channels for Boo to communicate other things related to our discussion. Most of the topics for discussion also foster my development of Boo’s emotional intelligence.

Boo looks forward to playing the game every night before bed, and has even roped grandma in whilst she’s been babysitting over the past couple of weeks.

Wise Talk for Families is suitable for children 3 years and over, and is available for $29.95 from the WiseInside website, where you will also find more information. If part of your parenting strategies revolve around communicating well with your child, I highly recommend it!

Disclaimer – I received a free sample of Wise Talk for Families but was under no obligation to write this post, or promote the product.