We all want to be heard, but if we’ve repeatedly felt our words hitting proverbial brick walls, we might start holding back. We begin to believe our words won’t mean anything anyway.

My son used to repeat nearly everything he said, especially if he was playing with friends. I would hear all the repeated words and wonder why. Eventually, I realized he wasn’t feeling heard. So he thought that if he repeated things, maybe someone would hear him.

Maybe his friends noticed. Maybe they didn’t. I heard it all because he is dear to me. My love for him opens my ears to his words, repeated or not.