Learning Outcomes
- Practice active listening and asking incisive questions
- Provide guidance through credible experience sharing
- Offer constructive feedback delivering insights sensitively
Active Listening and Inquiry
Effective mentoring starts with leaning-in curious inquiries and patient listening before formulating advice. Achieving contextual clarity serves guidance for children better than common tips which may risk oversimplification and lack situational complexity, which can lead to poor traction with children. As a foster carer, undertaking deeply wise approaches manifests through restraint with the prioritisation of actively understanding all concerns of children.
Offering Guidance via Experience
Ideas and advice can set direction for children, but relatable journeys can often illuminate pathways to feasible approaches for children for greater depth, understanding, and motivation for children to apply experiential lessons to their own pursuits. Foster carers can generously share the navigation of paths walked, revealing shortcuts, and saving detours that were necessary without experienced stewards across life’s domains.
Sensitive Insights Delivery
Supportive feedback in the interest of children’s growth sensitively spotlights areas needing course corrections through dialogue with children – appreciating their efforts with encouraging spirit while also communicating opportunities for improvements. The essence is to build on strengths rather than risking demotivation through criticism. Presenting with sensitivity allows receptivity and objectivity in dialogue with children, retaining relationship integrity and sustaining desired optimisations in the journey for continuous improvement.