Parents have so much to tell children about life. After all, they've lived on this planet for several years longer than children; long enough to discern social issues around the world, long enough to learn the importance of education, and long enough to learn about forming good relationships. They've been around the corner and back - maybe more than once - and survived the school of hard knocks. Compared to children parents have tons of knowledge and experience to children's mere ounces.
With all that knowledge and experience, however, parents sometimes don't realize when they are dumping' too much information on their children at once. Five minute lectures reiterating everything they said yesterday, that was too much info for the children then, is still too much now. There's only so much you can say to your son about taking out the trash or brushing his teeth or cleaning his room. There's only so much you can say to your daughter about talking on the phone or walking the dog or letting out the cat. Subjecting children to more information than they can handle at one time could be counterproductive.
This brings us to Tip Number One for Avoiding Preaching to Your Children - Don't Talk Too Much! Children find parental preaching difficult to listen to. They tire from it because it sounds like nagging. When submitted to such lectures, children's silent even-paced breathing often turns into noisy vociferous sighs. Their former stately sitting lurches into ants-in-the-pants squirming. They may roll their eyes, suck their teeth, and resonate like fiends when responding to you - if they get a word in!
Tip Number Two - Don't Throw In The Kitchen Sink! Stick to the subject at hand when talking with your children. Initiating a discussion re their lack of completing chores and moving on to how they spend too much time playing video games followed by exceeding their cellphone text message allotment and then bringing up their unacceptable school grades only sounds like you have it in for the children - and like preaching. In fact, this type of bashing often makes children defensive. And why wouldn't they become defensive - they're human beings and it's normal for humans to enter defensive mode when attacked.
Instead of going on and on about what they do and what they don't do, if you want to talk to them about not completing their chores - stick with that subject. Tell them to do the chores and go on about your business. Check back later to make sure they're on track. If they aren't, tell them again and return to your own tasks.
Tip Number Three - Don't Hammer Your Children With You Know This And You Know That Because... No offense. But children don't care about your knowledge or your experience except for when they need help with certain things. Those certain things are usually instantly self-serving in nature - meaning things that benefit them in the moment. They cannot live their lives based on your life's passage. They can only draw on your passage under circumstances applicable to how they see their passages. This is not to say children are insensitive when it comes to accepting the mass of information or experience you have to offer, it's just that they are immature 'kids' that don't get it yet.
Tip Number Four - Allow Your Children To Voice Their Opinions. The days when children were to be seen but not heard are long gone; and so they should be. Children deserve to be heard. Parents who refuse to let their children say what's on their minds never really get to know their children. Children are more likely to harbor animosity toward parents when parents don't 'listen' to them. This doesn't mean your children should run the show. It only suggests you hear them out so you can understand their opinions. Now and then you may find you agree with them.
Tip Number Five - Recollect Your Own Childhood. Did you have a parent or parents preaching to you? If so - did you like it? If so - do you want to continue adverse behavior in your bloodline? If you didn't have parents or a parent preaching to you ask yourself why you're doing it. Now-Stop. No more preaching to your children.