Finding Ways to Communicate if it isn't easy!

I have to give COMPLETE credit for this idea to my daughter. She came up with this and she is a genius.

My daughter is not great at expressing emotions. She gets it from her dad. Now my son and I wear our hearts on our sleeves and talk talk talk about whatever it is we are feeling at any given moment.

I like to tackle feelings head on and talk it out, work it out. But, my daughter (and hubby) just don't function that way. Though we have nice talks and when I come to her she will talk about issues with me.

But, what about the times I don't see an issue? What about the times I don't recognize that she has something going on inside her and then I miss the opportunity to be of help, or support, or what she needs.

So, one day I walked into my room and found a composition book on my pillow. It had "MOM" written on the cover. Down in the corner it said "mommy & me"

I opened the book and it was dated and the first paragraph read:

Mom,
I know and you know that I don't like to talk about how I feel so I thought that this might help.

She went on to talk about a problem she was having in school. She had gotten in some trouble for being a smart mouth and she wanted to tell her side of the story.

The book was used quite often for a while to share her thoughts and then I would respond to her. Quite honestly we don't use it as much any more. I would like to think it is because we talk more. But, I need to write her a little check in note and see if she wants to share.

So, here is a FABULOUS idea if you are having a hard time communicating. OH by the way - we never TALK about what is written in the book. What happens in the book - stays in the book.

So, thanks to her creativity we found a way to break through her barriers to communication.

I am really proud of her!