Whenever we speak, we use a particular tone. When we speak to an employee, we use one tone. When we speak to an employer, we use another tone.
The tone we use makes a real difference.
When dealing with our children, sometimes tone is everything.
The difference is the tone of an adult vs. the tone of a parent. Kids don’t like adults. Adults are always yelling at kids. But a child loves a parent.
You can say something kind and affectionate to a child, but if you say it like an adult, the message will be ignored. On the other hand, you can disciple a child, but if the tone is that of a parent, of a father or mother, the child will love you.
The difference between an adult and a parent is that an adult sees what the child is doing and reacts, while a parent sounds like he or she has been thinking about the child for a while.
If your child does something you’d like to correct and you want to sound like a parent, don’t do anything immediately. The next day tell the child what you want to say and the child will hear that an adult not only remembers what the child did yesterday, has thought about it, and now wants to talk about it.
The child will hear a parent.