The concept of repeat exposure has been around since the 1930's when the movie industry realized that most people needed to see an advertisement several times before making the decision to buy a ticket. Dr. Jeffrey Lant took the concept a step further by popularizing the "Rule of 7" in which he suggests that it takes 7 exposures to penetrate a buyer's consciousness to the point of purchase.

This business concept can be applied to our own lives. My good friend, Heather Lyman, suggested the same book to me at least 7 times.  When I finally purchased it and read it, I could not put it down! It was meaningful for me and I wondered why in the world it took me so long to act on Heather's good advice. I can think of numerous other times in which it took me ages to act on something that ended up being beneficial.

We get so frustrated when we tell our children to do something and they don't heed our advice. Why do we have to say these things over and over again?

The real question should be… Why do we expect more from our children than we do from ourselves?

Perhaps we can learn a little something from the business world. Marketers know how we think. They know how we learn. They know what it will take for us to buy their product. We parents need to get a little more savvy about understanding these same things about our children so that we can best teach them the things they need to know.

Here are 5 tips on talking so our children will listen:

1. Are they ready to take in the information? Are they focused on something else? Sometimes it just takes a touch on the arm to help them refocus their attention.

2. Give them the same information through multiple mediums. We tend to talk and talk and talk to children who just might be visual learners. Be creative. Are there other ways you can communicate this information to your child? If he loves legos, use his own creations to role play the situation with him.

3. Do not expect a habit to form after just one or two exposures to the information.

4. Don't throw in the towel. Changing the thoughts that drive our behavior does not happen quickly or easily. It is hard work. Parents often try a strategy, then give up when it doesn't work the first time. Sometimes, we conclude that it is easier to just do it all ourselves.

               Which brings us to the most important piece...

5. Teach independence instead of dependence.  One of the greatest gifts we can give our children is to teach them systems that will enable them to do things on their own.  

Now that's savvy!