Teach Caring Through Unexpected Communication

There’s so much talking going on! 24 hour TV and streaming galore! Yet, there’s much more to communication than talking. Let’s look at some books and discover some wonderful ways to teach caring through communication.

Pamela Rice’s book, The Painting Speaks , shares a gentle understanding of how a picture can communicate a message. I think it must be true because our world is filled with art museums sharing incredible stories. Going to a museum, or even walking around your home and looking at what is on your walls, offers an opportunity to have a conversation about what you ‘hear’ based on what you see. Find the feelings within each message.

Another way to explore visual communication is through color. What do colors mean? What messages do they portray? Ask your children to look at the colors they are wearing and identify feelings they could be communicating with their clothing.

Yara My Friend From Syria by Alham Rahimi is an incredibly sweet story. Yara is a little girl who knows three languages, but not one of them is English. She shares her deepest feelings by showing her new friends what is in a little box. What are those feelings? What if you had a little box to fill? What would you or your child put in it?

Sometimes people communicate by placing items in a time capsule. What would your family want to include to tell people in the future about what is important to you? Kaitlyn in Kaitlyn Wants to See Ducks has Down syndrome and uses very few words. Her true story shows how she uses her body language to communicate how she feels. Everyone communicates with body language if you take the time to observe them. Kaitlyn’s twin sisters also use sign language as another way of communicating. Learning a few very basic signs could be useful and fun.

Taking the time to communicate in new ways opens up your heart to caring about others in new ways.