Speaking their language

Talking to your kids...sounds easy doesn't it? But I have found it's not as easy as I first thought. I might be talking (aka: saying words), but they may or may not be hearing what I'm saying.
  Example:
   I was trying to communicate to Aaron today the importance of good handwriting (yet again) and how his more closely resembles the scribbling of a 3 year old than a 12 year old. (And, yes, I've seen him do beautiful work before, so I'm kind of wondering what happened.) And I could tell I just wasn't getting through. Then I realized, oh yeah, I need to relate it to something he is into right now. Computers. So I asked him, "Can you program a computer any old which way and still have it work?"
  " Oh, no ma'am you have to do it a certain way or it won't work at all. It won't process. "
(Light-bulb!)
"Exactly. And this (pointing to my brain) computer won't process what you are doing. You need to upgrade. This was good for an older computer, but now you need a Mac. "
 (I'm getting smiles now.)
"Yes, ma'am"
And we went on to discuss how his Capital and small letters should NOT be the same size and one sentence should not take up half a page. But I was getting through now.

If only I can remember more often to really communicate instead of just talking. I can accomplish more in 10 minutes of calm rational discussion where I take the time to point out "why" and "How this will affect this", than I can in weeks of  preaching and fussing.