Communication in the Family

The better family members can communicate with each other, the better they can deal with hard times and difficult decisions.

Families working together bring more strength to dealing with a problem than its members, as individuals, could ever hope to. Just knowing that other family members are sharing in the problem makes it easier to bear.

The more family members are involved in making a decision—the more perspectives and ideas are shared—the better a decision is likely to result. That’s if family communications are working well. If not, family discussions about matters already heavy with emotion and tension can make difficult decisions almost impossible.

Families usually have shared verbal and non-verbal “shorthand” in conversations. Sometimes this shorthand can help communication, and sometimes it can get in the way. Speakers and the listeners alike can use special skills to make communication clearer and more effective. Two of those skills are active listening and two-way communication, which can draw more information out of speakers and convey more to listeners. Still other skills are important for communicating with relatives whose sight or hearing is impaired.

Elder Asthon said, “If we would know true love and understanding one for another, we must realize that communication is more than a sharing of words. It is the wise sharing of emotions, feelings, and concerns. It is the sharing of oneself totally. “Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.” (James 3:13.)”

Sometimes the difficulty to communicate between our own families makes us make some mistakes that we will later regret. For example, a mom could yell at her child because he “broke” the lamp even before asking him about it. However, he didn’t but the dog did. Nobody taught our parents how to be parents. Because of this, we should be always able to forgive. Forgiveness is a great part of the Plan of Salvation. If Jesus is always forgiving us for our mistakes, who are we to don’t forgive for these miscommunications?