Improving Family Communication
We certainly have various relationships in our everyday life that require our energy and time, the most of crucial of which are the important relationships with our families. It is not so easy to maintain good relationship between family members and the major reason to family relationship problems is deficiencies in high quality, frequent communication.
It will take time to build and care for systems of family relationship, but communication is crucial in developing effective and joyful family relationships. In an effort to gain good family communication, you will need to know what high quality communication is. Good family communication is two-fold. First, it can be the ability to appropriately share your feelings, thoughts, and needs. Second, it can be the capability to fully understand the feelings, thoughts, and needs of other individuals. That is why; communication should not only integrate expression, but also involves listening. This is the process of mutual understanding and sharing which is important to success.
So , how can you develop family communication ?
In order to make your family’s communication active, you will need to allocate enough time to communicate. It is extremely hard to create communication if you have no specified to enough time to talk and listen; for that reason, the starting point in getting your family active is to allocate time to enable communication! Family communication time must not be too structured in which individuals are obligated to talk, but it must create an atmosphere in which talking can occur naturally. Therefore your communication time must occur throughout family gathering, such as dinner. Make sure to limit disruptions, like the phone and TV, within this family time.
Another significant aspect of successful family communication is learning how to properly express your positive and negative thoughts. It means that you must do the routine of saying things, such as I feel proud, excited, or happy, and also things like feeling discouraged, sad, or disappointed. Suggest your kids to express their feelings, as well, and teach empathy, compassion and respect in your conversations.
The last step in improving your communication skills is to be a good listener. You need to learn how to perform active listening in everyday life. Listening is a selfless habit in which you will need to appreciate someone else’s feelings, thoughts, and needs before your own. Create a aware effort to consider the intent, content, and feelings of what you are listening to. Ask questions, show empathy, and give insight in the communication. Also, make an effort to not get angry or skip to conclusions once your spouse or kids are trying to speak with you. It is a problem that most individuals have, and becoming a good listener is simply listening, not talking.
Good communication helps with the improvement of trust, credibility, and mutual respect: things we continuously find in most family relationships. Keep in mind, this is a process and your family communication should get consistent attention and the most crucial thing you can try is to build opportunities to talk. It is really easy to get so full of activity that a whole week passes by without a quality communication occurring at your home.
