Search Results for: blog communication breakdown

Realistic Communication

Almost any article or book you read on communication will say this. If you want to be a good listener, you need to repeat back what the other person said. This not only validates what they have said. But it shows them you actually heard what they were saying. Then you can ask questions to help clarify what they meant and how they feel. It sounds like great advice, right? But does it work in real life? I have to admit that it sounds a little corny and unnatural. Imagine a scenario such as this. Your spouse says to you: … Continue reading →

Communication Breakdown

What do you do when your marriage has experienced a communication breakdown? It happens to the best of marriages, so it might be helpful to plan for these occasions ahead of time. I will admit it has been an issue in my marriage lately. When this happens it is almost always because of a stressor, particularly with our children. What we have been dealing with lately is a lot of emotional ups and downs, now that we are facing the departure of our oldest son. He will be leaving in just under three weeks for basic training in the Air … Continue reading →

Creative Communication with Your Teen

If you are the parent of a teen, then you know how difficult communication can be at times. If it’s not a breakdown of communication, it is miscommunication. Either one can get you in trouble. So how does a parent find a way to communicate with their teen when it feels like they are dealing with a clam? You know the type…they won’t open their mouth for anything. They feel uncomfortable being put on the spot and made to feel that they have to talk. One way is to not make it so formal. Talking with your teen doesn’t have … Continue reading →

Communication Breakdown? It Might Be That You are TOO MUCH Alike

Similarities with our kids can be wonderful—there is nothing like recognizing some of your most cherished personal qualities in your child and seeing how he or she takes after you. But, the thing is, they don’t just get our most cherished and best-liked personal qualities, sometimes they inherit or take on some of those things about ourselves which we aren’t too pleased with. This is where I think we can run into communication problems with our children. It isn’t always that we are so different we can’t see each other’s point of view, but sometimes, we are so much alike … Continue reading →

A Recovering Nag

There is a Bible verse that says a nagging wife is like a constant dripping. Doesn’t the thought of listening to a faucet dripping rattle your insides? So imagine how it feels to a spouse. After a while you start to sound like Charlie Brown’s teacher. Her voice was like someone speaking into a megaphone, all muffled. Now here is the downside to nagging. If you don’t nag, sometimes things just won’t get done. I know…because I have been waiting for some things in this house to get done for six years. I’m not kidding. It has actually become a … Continue reading →

Women Guilty of Tuning Out

It’s a common complaint with women…he never listens. Communication tends to be a huge problem in many marriages but most of the blame gets put on the husband. I bet you can picture a scene in your mind. He is sitting on the couch, watching the game and his wife mentions how so-and-so is really fed up with so-and-so, that they might even separate. “That’s nice dear.” What? Did he not just hear what was said? They might get divorced! Clearly, he wasn’t listening. And so she spouts off about how he never listens and it escalates into an argument. … Continue reading →

TV’s in Children’s Bedrooms (2)

Posted on by

I observed firsthand the problems of having TV’s in children’s bedrooms back when my daughter was in elementary school. One of the girls in her Year 4 class had one in her bedroom and she was the envy of her peers. Naturally this girl boasted about her new-found televisual independence and I’m sure there were cries of “I want one, too!” in more than our household. When I found out this girl’s older sister in Year 8 also had her own TV, as well as her younger brother in Year 3, it became almost like a scientific experiment for me. … Continue reading →

Are You to Blame for Your Spouse’s Affair?

If your spouse has an affair with someone else, should you take some of the blame? One issue that I see coming up in the forums often enough to be a concern is the subject of having a spouse who cheats. In many of the posts, the spouse who is being cheated on wants t figure out what he or she did wrong in the relationship to cause the cheating. There are many things in a married relationship that can lead to cheating. Often women cheat because they are feeling neglected or unloved. Men tend to cheat to increase their … Continue reading →

Be Direct in Your Business Dealings

There is this misconception that good sales means being manipulative and sneaky and “pulling the wool” over someone’s ideas. We think that we need to trick them into making a purchase or gloss things over in order to get someone to come on board as a client. In reality, being direct and honest can get us more clients and customers and can help us build a stronger business reputation. Being direct does not mean that we have to be crass or rude. In fact, we can be gentle and considerate all the while we are being direct. Say it like … Continue reading →

“Let me See if I’m Understanding You…”

Communication challenges are not the sole domain of the single parent, to be sure, but I know that developing strong bonds of communication has been a priority for me with my kids. Even though we are not always together (or because we are not always together) and as my children have gotten older, making sure that I am teaching them about good communication and developing my own skills has been important. One of the things I have learned (and it took several years) was how to clarify and show them that I am listening and hearing what they say without … Continue reading →