Association For Child And Adolescent Mental Health (acamh)

DOI: 10.13056/acamh.20650 In this podcast, we are joined by Dr. Rebecca Rolland, a Harvard faculty member and author of The Art of Talking With Children, published by HarperCollins, to discuss how we communicate with children. To set the scene, Rebecca begins by talking about what inspired the book, The Art of Talking With Children, and discusses in what ways she feels that digital media has impacted the way we communicate across and between generations, and also in particular its impact on the mental health of young people. Rebecca touches upon the impact of the pandemic in terms of communication skills, before commenting on the importance of conversation, in particular daily conversation with kids, in supporting their deeper learning, to reduce conflict, to build their empathy, confidence, and creativity. Rebecca talks about how to know if what we say to children is helpful, details what a quality conversation with children and young people looks like, and shares tips on how to adapt our conversations t