Communication

This post was written by a CSUCI student.

How can parents and youth improve communication with each other, especially when it comes to talking about difficult issues?

Communication is an important key when it comes to being in a relationship either with a partner, a friend, or a family member. Growing up in a Hispanic household, there really wasn’t that much communication within my family that was expressing our feelings, how we felt, or talking about things that I have experienced. In addition, growing up I would hear from other friends how they were close to either a sibling or their parents and they could talk to them about anything and there would be that communication in which they could express to each other how they felt or just talk about anything. In my situation, there really wasn't that communication and even today I still don't have any good communication with my parents or siblings.

There are times I just want to express how I am feeling, difficult issues I have experienced, or just talk about how my day went and have that communication with one of my parents or siblings, but there is no communication. At times this tends to be because of the way our family may have been treated or taught growing up or they may have also experienced this as well. Overall, there can be ways in which parents and youth can be able to improve communication with each other.

When it comes to wanting to talk about difficult topics or issues, we can improve our communication with our parents or parents and caregivers with their children in a few ways. To start off, taking some time out of your day is one way to start, especially if you are a busy person. For example, parents and caregivers tend to work all day and once they get home they just want to relax. But having at least some time out of your day and having some communication with your child and talking about some difficult issues they may be experiencing can help them and will make them feel that you care about them.

To add on, another way to improve communication will be checking in with your child regularly and vice versa because this will help you learn and get to know who your child is, plus you will be building a bond with your child and it will also make it easy for your child to ask you for help when they need to express themselves or talk about anything. In my situation this is something that I am still working on, which is building a bond with my parents or siblings so I can just go up to them and express how I am feeling, talk about difficult issues I am experiencing, or just talk about my life in general.

Finally, another thing to keep in mind is to be mindful of your words when it comes to communicating to whoever may be talking to you and vice versa. When it comes to speaking, you have to keep in mind what you are saying and not judge one another since it will make it hard to communicate and give some advice. Also, when it comes to talking about difficult issues you have to be prepared and make sure you are communicating well and understanding one another as mentioned before. Overall, this is something that I still need to work on and although there still is not that much communication when it comes to talking to my parents or siblings, I feel that with time I can start talking to them little by little. I know that this will take time and I am hoping that I can have someone I can talk to when it comes to anything that I may be going through.