I am fond of watching others in conversation to learn their speaking and listening behaviour!
Watching these children from a distance for about ten minutes in a conversation gave me some insights that adults can learn from!
The attentive posture of their body and facial expressions were most encouraging to the speaking child because of the attentive feed back. There was no interruption while he was speaking for a minute or so. Each person took turns to speak and waited eagerly to listen as revealed by their body posture! The receptive gesture of a gentle smile on their faces communicates a lot about the interest with which they listened to each other. They were present to each other and involved in the thoughts spoken. They did not seem wander away thinking what they ought to speak in response!
I liked the communicative ambience of this meeting! It seems that they were talking to each other when they were ready for a conversation!
To discern whether someone is ready to listen is an important skill to develop, lest we load others with our thoughts when they are least ready to listen or participate in a conversation!
To listen is to honour the other person and to respect his or her thoughts. We encounter more arguments, debates or accusations instead of conversation in our social gatherings!
To be in an edifying conversation would mean that we become learners by listening!
M.C.Mathew(text and photo)
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