Communication

Communicate Often and Well

It is worthwhile to learn the art of communicating well with each other. If we do, we can close the gap, remove barriers, and have successful personal relationships. The key to enriching and improving our relationship with our children is expressing what we think, feel, and want. This way we can give them positive, productive, and healthy values.

Each day we have less time to share and talk with our children. Multiple tasks and long or double shifts at work are some of the problems we have to deal with to allow time for true dialog. Often, when we ask ourselves about the current state of communication with our children, we have no problem saying, “I talk to them a lot.” But, if we analyze this a bit more, we realize our communication is limited to our telling them what to do: “Don’t do that.” “Clean your room!” “Do your homework.”

We need to recognize the importance of creating special moments to share with our children as a family. By creating a friendly environment for discussion, we are giving our children the message that we are interested in knowing what they think, that they can confide in us when they have doubts and fears, and that we always are ready to share whatever information they need or are interested in knowing. In short, we are showing them respect and trust.

Good communication between parents and children is not always easy. But, if we learn effective styles of communicating with our children, various ways of encouraging conversations with them, and we devote enough time, we increase our chances of success. Quality of communication is more important than quantity.