Developing Communication Skills with TiffinTalk

This is a sponsored post brought to you by Real Mom Media. The opinions are completely my own based on my personal experience with the product.

Communication is such an important skill to develop. As parents, it’s part of our job to help our kids learn to communicate effectively. Though I’m not always perfect at communicating, lack of communication and unclear communication are personal pet peeves.

With today’s technology, our kids have additional ways to communicate (such as text, snapchat, and video calls), but it seems a lot of them are missing out on face-to-face interactions and traditional means of communication.

I make it a point to help my almost 5-year-old understand how to talk with others; how to introduce himself, how to politely interrupt (we’re working on this!!), and the importance of looking other people in the eye.

One of the ways we can help our kids get stronger at communicating well with others is to put the technology aside (I’m guilty of being on the phone and computer a lot!!) and simply talk; have conversations. Seems easy right? But how many times do you try to start a conversation with your child and they aren’t interested in engaging? I have a chatty kid, but I know it’s a struggle for some families.

I was introduced to TiffinTalk as a way to help turn off the technology and turn on the talking. We’ve been enjoying it in our house. TiffinTalk has been created as a series of questions that you use as prompts to get your child thinking, and to start communicating. It’s designed to have one card per day, with a prompt, and the prompts of the week are all related, for example, our first week talks about memories.

TiffinTalk adds extra layers of interest by having each day in the week be a puzzle piece (which encourages more communication about what the puzzle might be, how do you know, what do you notice, etc.) as well as a fun activity on the back. The real way you’re supposed to use them is one a day, but my son wanted to keep going after we did the first one. So we ended up talking about all of week’s questions at one sitting. I plan to come back around and use these again. But that’s part of what I really liked about TiffinTalk- though there are instructions and ways they suggest you use it, there’s a lot of flexibility in it as well.

Communication is a skill that can and should be developed and we have to model for our children to help them learn. While our kids are becoming skilled at modes of communication we never dreamed of, they’re also becoming less-skilled in the critical area of face-to-face communication. Interpersonal skills get lost when we rely too much on technology or spend too much time behind a screen.

If you’re struggling with getting your kids to open up, whatever their age, give TiffinTalk a try. The questions, puzzles, and activities change based on grade level, so you’ll be sure to find something appropriate for your child. By using these cards as an opportunity to spark conversation and record ideas, they also become lasting memories for you and your child.