Try, try to ensure they understand what you think, not what you think they want to hear but what you think. Of course always be kind in sharing your honest word. I think a lot of the mess I find myself in now would have been avoided if I'd just said what I thought as kindly as I could. Instead the pinched face as I withheld my affection in the same dam that withheld my criticism is the pinched face that made it all turn to muck. Mucky muck.