Getting Your Partner to Listen – Stepmom Strategies: Stop Harping and Be Heard by Mary T. Kelly, MA
⊲ “We need to talk.”
⊲ “You need to tell your kid to clean his room.”
⊲ “I need you to set your ex straight on our boundaries.”
⊲ “You need to start disciplining your kids or I’ll do it for you.”
Do you recognize yourself in any of those statements? In truth, that list could go on and on. I’ll bet you’ve started multiple conversations with your partner by saying, “You need to …,” I want you to …,” or some variation of that.
If so, your behavior qualifies as nagging. Honestly, we’re all pretty guilty of this from time to time. It’s human nature, but it doesn’t have to be our fallback strategy when all we really want is to be heard.
If you are caught in a vicious trap of nagging your way into getting what you want, it’s time to find more strategic ways of getting your partner to truly hear what you have to say. …To read the rest of this article, log in to your account and download the September 2015 issue. Don’t have an account? Click here to subscribe!