Episode 546: How to Engage Your Kids Into Conversations Without Losing Your Temper

Habits and Hustle

Jen Cohen

Entrepreneurship, Education, Self-improvement, Health & Fitness, Business

4.5 • 818 Ratings

🗓️ 17 April 2026

⏱️ 12 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Are you having a hard time connecting with your kid to know what they’re up to? By the age of 10, kids may start to have short answers like “fine” and speak less to us parents because their brains develop and start navigating more independence over parental guidance. As parents, we want to make sure what is happening with our kids and it can be frustrating to get them to share more which sometimes leads to yelling. Kids are sensitive to our emotions as parents and they would rather distance themselves and become more mute when met with frustration and stress. In this episode of Habits & Hustle, I share some communication strategies that I learned from the communication experts and behavioral psychologists I met from this podcast and how it worked for me and my sons. It is so possible to have fun and engaging conversations with your kids without them feeling dismissed or ignored and you pulling your hair out of frustration. Let’s dive in! What's Discussed: (01:30) The first rule: what active listening actually looks like and why it matters. (02:12) Why being physically present isn't the same as being mentally present. (03:16) The environments where kids open up the most and why. (04:16) Why "how was school?" gets you nowhere and what to ask instead. (05:00) How sharing your own stories builds a connection with your kids. (05:28) Why baby talk sets kids back and talking to them like mini adults works better. (08:04) Why dedicated one-on-one time makes kids feel special. (08:31) How staying patient and calm gets better results than losing your temper. (10:05) Why kids are intuitive and can sense when something is real versus not. (10:27) What respecting your child's boundaries actually looks like. (11:13) Why forcing kids to hug or kiss people teaches them the wrong lesson. Thank you to my sponsors!Kion: Visit getkion.com/habits for 20% off. AirDoctor: Head to AirDoctorPro.com and use promo code HUSTLE to get up to $300 off today! AirDoctor comes with a 30-day money back guarantee, plus a 3-year warranty (an $84 value) FREE! AX3®: Visit www.AX3.life to get a 20% discount on your first order with promo code HUSTLE at checkout. Magic Mind: Head over to www.magicmind.com/jen and use code JEN at checkout. Find more from Jen: Website: https://jennifercohen.com Instagram: @therealjencohen Books: https://jennifercohen.com/books Speaking: https://jennifercohen.com/speaking-engagements

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hi guys, it's Tony Robbins. You're listening to Habits and Hustle. Crush it.
0:07.2	Hi, everybody. Welcome to Habits and Hustle. We are going to be diving into a topic today that is near, very near and dear to my heart. And that is children and how to talk to them effectively. Basically, how to talk to your kids. So if you're
0:24.4	somebody who doesn't have a kid, this episode may not be for you, but if you have a niece or a nephew
0:31.9	or a cousin and you want to learn some really easy strategies to talk with them and connect with them in a deeper way, listen to this episode.
0:44.7	Because I will tell you something.
0:46.5	I have two kids.
0:47.4	I have an 8-year-old and a 10-year-old.
0:49.2	And a lot of it has, for me, has been a lot of trial and error.
0:53.4	And I'm fortunate enough because of what
0:55.7	I do for a living, I get to speak to some of the most amazing experts in the world, some of the
1:00.5	best, some of the best psychologists, some of the best behaviorists. And so when I learn something,
1:07.4	of course, like a guinea pig, I go and try it out. So some of these things that we're
1:12.0	going to talk about are things that I've noticed have really improved my, not just my communication
1:19.2	with my kids, but our level of depth in our relationship, because it's so important to me,
1:26.0	and I'm always like trying to research and figure
1:28.3	out ways to do this. And the first thing I want to talk about is when I want my kids to open up to me,
1:36.6	number one, I try to be an active listener. When I say that, I want to make sure that my phone is
1:43.2	away. I'm paying attention and making eye contact because what I think happens so often because I've been, I've been someone who's done this so often and my friends do it. When you're working mom and you have a million things going on and you're working on like a bunch of stuff. It's really easy just to be
2:02.1	dismissive of your kid when they want to talk to you or when you are spending time with them.
2:07.5	What happens a lot of times is you're kind of half-assing it. Like they're around and you're,
2:12.7	you think because they're around you that you're actually spending quality time, but actually
2:17.4	that's not
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Jen Cohen, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Jen Cohen and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.