On the latest “My Conscious Dad” show on KHTS AM-1220, Santa Clarita life coach Alex Urbina sat down with guest speaker Real Andrews and discussed what it means to be a conscious dad.

Santa Clarita life coach Alex Urbina.

Urbina expressed his belief that being a conscious dad means “to be aware of the mistakes that we make,” to learn from those mistakes and to “be committed to doing the things that are going to help us to be more effective at parenting.”

Upon trying to become a more conscious father, Andrews has realized that communication is key in all aspects of his life.

“The first and most important thing that I’m learning is communication, and that’s huge,” said Andrews. “Basically before I met you (Urbina) and started working with you, we were just bodies in a house walking and just passing in the nights really on all levels.”

According to Urbina, part of being a conscious dad and better communicating with your children is to try and dig deeper into what they are saying and find out what is really going on in their heads.

Related: ‘My Conscious Dad’ On KHTS: Being An Authentic Parent

“What they’ll do is, they’ll act out in certain ways and they’ll play games,” said Urbina. “You’re the one that’s going to have to guide them or facilitate a process to shave off all the things that aren’t really what they’re trying to say and get right down to what it is they’re actually trying to communicate with you, and that takes some work.”

Communication, as both Andrews and Urbina have learned, is not just a one-way street, and as a parent, it is up to you to get your child to open up, according to Urbina.

Andrews recalled taking his kids to school in the past and being satisfied with the time they spent together, even when they didn’t actually speak to each other during the car ride.

“Now I’m not okay with that, and I’m trying to get more creative about asking … open-ended questions, because (the answer to), ‘How was your day?’ was, ‘Okay,’ and then they’re back,” said Andrews.

Both Andrews and Urbina believe that their children want more, and when you take the time to have those deeper conversations, they will respond to it.

“They want a lot more,” said Andrews. “Now what I’m noticing is, they’re seeing that I actually care, so they’re not giving me those one-word answers anymore.”

Santa Clarita life coach Alex Urbina is one of the leading experts on teen, parent and family relationships. Specializing in personal transformation, Urbina has 20 years of experience as a life coach in Santa Clarita. His Life Leadership Training programs are being implemented in schools, youth organizations and transformational centers across the country, helping empower people to realize their full potential. “My Conscious Dad”, hosted by Urbina and his daughter, Jazmine Urbina, helps listeners consider new possibilities they couldn’t see before. The show airs on Fridays at 1 p.m. on KHTS AM-1220.