EDUC-6165-2,Comm & Collab Early Childhood 1st Blog Assignment

For my blog assignment, I was tasked to think of someone who has competent communication skills.  There is one person that comes to my mind right away…my mom.  My mother is one of the best communicators that I know.  She has always been more concerned about what is right and less concerned about who is right.  She is completely honest and all times, regardless to who it offends.  There is a reason for what she believes, and her tone of voice never changes.  She knows how to listen and not over talk, but how to respond on the topic at hand when it is her turn to speak.  She does not use a lot of body contact, but maintains great eye contact.  She never gets tired of communicating until the conversation has ended.  The one thing that she does that I do not like is that she expresses affiliation for others which often times lead to her own tears.  I absolutely hate to see my mother cry, she has a huge heart and I don’t want anyone to take advantage of that.

Competent communication is more process than outcome-focused.  When in school I always remind my students that I really don’t care about the product they have created, I am more concerned with the process it took to get there.  There are so many relationships that have been tarnished because people simply are unaware of how to communicate effectively.  If a person is yelling at you that is not such a bad sign, when they walk away from you is when you should be worried.  Only cowards really walk away, a person that really cares about you will stay to the end to communicate the issue at hand.  If the person walks away, you were much better off without them anyway.  Ethics is the study of morals.  Believe it or not, not everyone has developed the morals needed to communicate effectively.  These are things that children must be taught.  I can honestly say that I have never seen my parents agree, because they have always done it behind closed doors.  When a child is aware of adult issues it allows them the opportunity to take sides of something that they have absolutely nothing to do with anyway.  Behavioral flexibility allows knowing and using a number of different behaviors to achieve the desired goal.  Teach children that it is ok to disagree but there is an appropriate way to do so. 

As for myself, I feel like I am a work in progress.  One day I would love to be able to communicate as well as my mother, but I am not there yet. There are times when I get frustrated if I am misunderstood or even judged.  I do raise my tone, and might even take a deep breathe.  But, the point that I am trying desperately to make is that I am human, and that we all have fall short at one time or another.  However, one thing that I will never do is walk away from a person that I love.  I feel that is the most cowardly thing a person can do.  You really see who your loved ones are when they “show their true colors.”  Communication is a skill that must be learned in all fields of professionalism.  How well do you communicate?