Emotional Intelligence
Read your own feelings and other people’s — the skill underneath every hard conversation.
View course
Books
How to Talk So Kids Will Listen
A chatbot can summarise this book in seconds. It cannot make the words come out of your mouth at six o’clock on a Tuesday when everyone is tired. This course teaches the handful of skills the book is built on, checks them against research the authors never did — on emotion coaching, on praise, on giving children real choices — and turns what holds up into scripts you can actually say. Warm about the book where it earns it, honest that it asks for more practice than it admits.
What you’ll learn
By the end, you’ll be able to…
Acknowledge a child’s feeling instead of arguing with it — and see why that isn’t the same as giving in
Tell which techniques have real research behind them and which rest on the authors’ say-so
Swap blaming and threatening for describing, giving information, and offering a real choice
Praise in a way that builds persistence rather than a fragile label
See why a script read without the stance behind it fails — and how to avoid that
Turn the skills into a fortnight of small, specific attempts at real moments in your week
Curriculum
6 lessons across 2 modules
Lesson 1 is free for everyone. Lessons 2–6 are included with any paid plan. Each lesson ends with an exercise you do yourself.
Questions
Good to know
Lesson 1 is free for everyone. Lessons 2–6 are included with any paid plan. Sign up free and start the first lesson today.
No, and it is not a replacement for reading it. This course is not affiliated with, authorised by or endorsed by the authors or publisher. It teaches the skills, checks them against independent research, and turns them into practice. If it helps, read the original — your local library lends it free through Libby or BorrowBox.
Some of it has strong support and some of it doesn’t — and the course is straight about which. Lesson 2 sets the techniques against independent research on emotion coaching, praise and giving children choices. Lesson 3 is honest that the 1980 book asserts more certainty than its own evidence carried, and that a script recited without the stance behind it tends to fail. You can see how we work at how we check.
The skills apply from toddlers to teenagers, and the course gives examples across that range. It is a course for parents and carers, about talking with children — not a course for children.
Communication skills help with ordinary friction. They do not stretch to everything. If you are struggling, Family Lives runs a free, confidential parenting helpline on 0808 800 2222. If you are ever worried a child is at risk, contact the NSPCC Helpline on 0808 800 5000, and in an emergency call 999. The lessons repeat this where it matters.
No. The course explains each skill before it examines it. If you have read it, you will find the lessons quicker going and the research more useful.
Keep going