Listening vs Hearing

One of the mandatory competency skill set being a mother is the listening skill. Chewah, that sounded like me doing my HR competency presentation...

Moving on, and why do I say that.

Today, my princess wanted to join this overnite trip organised by her school to one of the waterfall resort in Bentong. Duration is 3 days 2 nite - can you believe it, nowadays rombongan sekolah for standard 4 kids are like a family vacation.....

Using my parent perogative, of course the answer is blunt NO! Don't you read the newspaper about kids drowning during this type of excursion.....and further more, she is only standard 4, don't you think that's too young....

So, when she called me while I was at work, I could have just say that NO! But instead I told her we'll talk about it when I'm back home later in the evening. I then called my better half and of course he concur my decision.

However, this is where you can spot the difference between a mother and a father. The moment my better half arrived home, he immediately told my princess he violently object to her request even without listening what she want to say. No wonder whenever my better half requested for explanation about anything from her, she would just say, "Alah, kalau kakak cakap papa takkan paham".

It's time for the mama to step in. After I served dinner, bath and perform my prayers, I was about to send her to bed...and I called her to sit on my lap(which reminds me, she is not getting any lighter). I asked her to explain to me about the trip. She then went on explaining that even families can come along. And the most responsible reply from a mother will be " let me think about it and we'll talk about it further"

This is the difference between listening and hearing. When you hear, it will like entering one ear to another. But when you listen, it will enter via your ear, to your brain, to your heart then you verbalise it....

So, listen to your kids not just hear them...