Communication

The person who I have chosen as a competent communicator is my Aunt Annie. My aunt has been a positive role model when it comes to communication. She would always exhibit interest and that she was listening and processing what was said. Between the compassion in her voice, her eye contact and she listened as I spoke. The look that she would give me that she understood, what I was saying and she would ask me if I understood as well. There was never a moment when she displayed disappointment, but she did express verbally when an action of mine was disliked or disapproved. She was family, so communication was always respectful, not that I would ever disrespect her. My aunt was known as the aunt or person who everyone loved. She was very compassionate and she didn't have favorites, she treated everyone the same. When it came to communication we were treated differently because the types of effective communication were not universal. It wasn't a "one size fits all" type of method. My aunt had a gift to speak with her siblings, her nieces and nephews and everyone else in between.

I admire my aunt's compassion and that she listened, when she spoke, it wasn't degrading or speaking down to you, even during confrontations, my aunt did not speak with anger, but with clear thoughts. She adjusted her communication tactics depending on the situation. I would hope that what I have learned from her growing up, would be something that I could model and practice with my communication efforts.

I am still a working progress in communication; I have learned that effective communication is different for everyone, and even from generation to generation. I need to learn to communicate with children so that it's effective and then be able to change to parents and then to staff and the director. Just because I speak doesn't mean the communication is understood. There is a lot to effective communication and this is just the beginning.