The Study of Family Communication Class Journal - Essay Example

Family Communication and Related Elements Family Communication Journal Overview This journal article focuses on family communication. It features various components of a family such as memorable stories, communication report cards, stated or future rituals, and dialectical tension examples. The article incorporates the vocabulary learned in class. The modern families get faced with accelerated life. As a result, difficulty erupts for the family members to share everyday life events or experiences. Communication Issues relating to work, money and relationships make modern family communication complicated. Family communication may seem a simple process, but in actual sense it is a very complicated process (Walsh, 1983). The modern days are faced with technological advancement that simplifies the family way of life. People communicate via modern technologies such as emails, cell phones and other social media appliances. This alters family communication time. Members lack enough time to communicate with each other (Walsh, 1983). The technology is also very important because it helps people connect with their relatives who live in far places. Modern family plans on how to overcome all the obstacles hindering communication. For instance, a family may plan a lunch date together or plan a gathering to talk about issues affecting the family. There are those families that set ritual or events that bring all the family members together weekly or on a monthly basis. They set the events in several dimensions including creating time to talk, work, or relax together (Walsh, 1983). Research indicates that many families are failing to meet the needs of their members. Less attention is paid to strong, healthy families, and the values that make families successful. It is important for families to seek information on how to improve communication and live a healthy family life. Researchers use two methods to carrying out studies on successful communication methods in a family. They study family strengths per se as the first method (Walsh, 1983). The assumption underlying this method is that there must be things that families with strong communication do in order to enhance good communication. The second method is studying healthy or normal families to evaluate the characteristics that distinguish them from their dysfunctional counterparts (Walsh, 1983). How We Communicate In most instances, communication of feelings and attitudes is done through words or physical gestures. Communication is built by several key factors. Among these factors is tone of voice, body language and listening. The tone of a family member’s voice will create awareness of the member’s feelings. The tone will inform you whether the member is happy, angry, sad, or frustrated among many other feelings (Walsh, 1983). A member’s body language will give an additional hint. The most important part is to learn different ways that family members act when communicating. One family value is to listen to a fellow family member when he or she is passing on a communicative message. There are several values within the family set up to enable members overcome listening obstacles (Walsh, 1983). Give the person speaking a chance to his or her thoughts and feelings. Do not interrupt that person until he or she finishes speaking. Pay close attention to what that member is saying or expressing. Make eye contact with a member only when appropriate. In case a member expresses intense emotions, it is advisable to restate what the member expressed. There are different ways how the male members express their opinions to the female members. These differences are best explained biologically. They are brought about by the differences in the genetic makeup of a baby (Walsh, 1983). These differences are also brought about by different encounters socially. There is a level of behavior tolerance in both genders and the level cannot be the same. In a general point of view, boys and men are categorized as aggressive, independent, and objective. Girls and women are categorized as submissive, dependent, and subjective (Walsh, 1983). Metaphor Statement Words are the weapons with which we wound. This is a metaphorical statement that matters to the family. It matters because we owe each other a sense of respect towards communication. If we engage in careless exchange of words, the words are what bring communication dilemmas between members. Metaphorically, my family is like sunshine to me. The family members are the best motivation towards life. We all engage in health conversations and healthy communication. The reason I refer to my family as sunshine to me is because it is the biggest part of my success. They encourage me when I am low, advise me when I need advice, protect me at all times and be there for me at all times among many other things (Walsh, 1983). Love is a family value that holds every member in the family. Every member cares for the other at all times. Moral agents are Nurturing parents. The family believes in respecting one another in order to carry on effective communication. Effective communication helps us better our understanding of each other and different situations within the family set up (Walsh, 1983). It facilitates the process of building trust for one another, resolve personal differences, respect one another, and create environments that promote development creative ideas. It also facilitates the creation of problem solving attitude, affection and caring. By mastering good communication skills, interaction within the family it becomes easy. It assists a person in the day-to-day perceiving huge number of messages that people send, receive, and process (Walsh, 1983). Most Memorable Family Story Our parents created the best memorable story in our family during one of the family vacations. They created a family vacation. We were all taken to the Walt Disney world in Orlando, Florida. This was the best time spending with my family. We visited all the attractions in the theme park, which created fun for the family. We took our dad’s van, which broke twice on the road before arriving. Upon arrival, my father had booked us a dinner table at a dinner event called Jolly Holiday. We experienced many funny characters and a lot of singing. Families were given opportunities to entertain the rest of the members. We then went on rides and went through the big drop off where everybody got wet. My family took pictures with various Disney characters ant the theme park. Later on we went to the Beach Club Resort Hotel where we saw Chip and Dale. This vacation is a memorable story to my family and I; we shared the best times together. Stated or Future Rituals Family rituals consist of celebrations, traditions and routines. All the family rituals and events have their functions within the line of communication. The rituals and events take shape in stages. The society has grown wild in sensitizing family values and communication strategies (Walsh, 1983). This rituals and events involve all members of the family. They occur episodically, and they carry meaning in the lives of all family members. All members of the family respect these rituals because they act as unifying factors. Most of the rituals partaken reflect family traditions. They are related to our cultural, religious and ethnic perspectives and practices (Walsh, 1983). We understand that rituals remind us about the symbolic nature of communication. We find these rituals as universal to our family life. We have created certain ceremonies and events that help us enhance communication within the family. An example of a family event that we highly observe is thanksgiving. After the normal rituals that come with the event, the family relaxes to have conversations (Walsh, 1983). We observe our own family traditions. They occur regularly in the family as a way to create a forum for understanding each other and developing effective communication. For instance, we observe summer vacations as a whole family unit. This event helps bonding and communication. Through adherence to all the family traditions, rituals and events, the family creates its own identity. These events enable members to know who they are and the things that are most important in their lives. Rituals always provide positive limbic discharges that help in warmth creation and closeness among family members. Relational Dialectics These are concepts referred to as knots of contradictions in personal relationships of family members. There has always existed opposing tendencies within the family. Not all the time members are in agreement with what each other says. Even in this regard, birds of a feather flock together. This is to mean that even though sometimes disagreements erupt, members always find ways of resolving the issues within the family setup (Walsh, 1983). As every member’s life continues to grow, each member continues to acquire independent ideas. Experiences of collision erupt between opposing desires and needs within the family communication setup. These relational dialectics enable us to realize the need for building satisfying and successful relationships. An example of a relational dialect that happened within the family is favoritism and impartiality. My sister had a desire to be treated fairly and impartially while my younger brother had the desire to be treated and seen as special. This created tension because my younger brother belittled my sister. He wanted everything good to be done to him instead of any other family member. This event brought misunderstanding and miscommunication to the family (Walsh, 1983). Another example is equality and inequality. After the first case, my sister developed the desire of being superior to my brother. All these events are important to the family because they help us realize that communication is the key to successful and healthy family relationships (Walsh, 1983). Summary Statement We have a strong understanding connecting each other in the family. Our Communication skills are built by several key factors. Among these factors is tone of voice, body language and listening. We seek information on how to improve communication and live a healthy family life. Good communications skills have made the family bond and understand each other’s needs better. Reference Walsh, F. (1983). The Timing of Symptoms and Critical Events in the Family Life Cycle, in H. A. Little (ed.,), Clinical Implications of the Family Life Cycle. Rockville, MC: Aspen Systems Publications. Read More