Observing Communication

This week we were asked to observe an adult communicate with a child. I watched a mother communicate with her two children as I walked my son to school this morning. She caught my attention because she was walking with her arms around both kids the whole way there. I love seeing this type of affection from parents! This family was only a few steps ahead of us, so I could hear everything that they were talking about. I heard her children talking to her about everything from what they were going to do after school to a favorite toy. The mother patiently listened the whole time. When they arrived at school, the Mom leaned down to kiss both of them good-bye and said, “Have a good day!”

I feel that I did witness some effective communication. I observed a lot of nonverbal communication which is in my opinion more important than verbal communication. This Mom patiently listened to her children without interrupting. She made them feel important. She also made them feel special and loved as she kissed and hugged them. Children made have their basic needs to survive, but the need love and affection to really thrive in our world. This Mom exhibited effective communication with her children.

The scenario that I witness did not really align with our topic of persona dolls this week, but it did align with everything that I have been taught so far in our Master’s program. I know how important nonverbal communication is, and I know that we need more parents like this Mom involved in our schools. Families are the backbone to a child succeeding. I do not believe this Mom could have done anything more to be more effective.

The children’s self worth should be pretty high from what I observed. I see this Mom walking her children to school every day as well as picking them up. She is very active in their academic learning because I have heard her ask about their school day on other occasions. These children know that they are loved by the affection that I have observed, and thus they must feel that they can conquer anything! Their hierarchy of needs is met, and they do have self worth.

This week I learned that I need to step back and do some more listening with my boys instead of doing all the talking. I was in awe of how patient and in tune this Mom was when listening to her children. I often do a lot of talking when my boys get home from school because I have to dig deep for answers. I realize now that they do want to talk, but it is not about school. I should let them talk about their interests like Eric Hoffman has shared with us this week, and then I can build on it. In my case, I can listen to them talk more about what they want to, and I bet they will talk to me about their school day when they are ready. Nonverbal communication truly goes a long way!