Communication Comments

Communication Comments

“My family communicated a lot! We talked about everything and my parents always knew what was going on in our lives. If we were struggling with something they knew about it, they made it their business to know.”

“My parents spent long hours talking one on one with me, my dad was especially good at prying things out of me that would not usually mention. They knew what was going on in my life, and were or at least seemed to e genuinely interested in it.”

“One thing my family did well was to allow for open input on family policy. Though my parents always had the last word, my thoughts were heard and respected as valid, even as a young child. It taught me that my opinion mattered, and that I was an essential part of the family as a whole.”

“My parents always had conversations with us about everything. That is how they established the best friend relationship with us especially when we were teenagers. If we had a problem we were to come and sit with them and tell them what the problem was. We had such great respect for our parents because they taught us how to respect and they respected us.”

“I think the biggest thing my parents lacked was communication skills. We never felt we could discuss anything we wanted to with them. So I think because things like drinking, drugs, boys, changes in ourselves etc. were not openly discussed at home we sought the information from other sources. When we faced challenges it often took weeks to get up the nerve to discuss them with our parents.”

My parents could have done better at communicating with us. I often felt alone with my problems and didn’t have anyone to confide in. We kept things to ourselves and hid our struggles. We didn’t learn how to deal with problems very well and tried to push them aside and not acknowledge them.

“We were not comfortable talking to my parents about sensitive issues. They always seemed to busy.”

“We never really talked to my parents or to each other. We always seemed to be a bother to my parents. You know—a child should be seen but not heard.”

“My mom never gave me a chance to speak but would always et very angry and I just grew to resent her. So the main thing I’m trying to say I my dad made it possible for me to talk to him and feel loved but not my mom.. I wanted to be a better person and not do anything wrong because of him. I didn’t care what my mom thought and just felt like rebelling more when she would get mad at me.”

“My mom always kept the communication lines open. Even now I can talk to her about anything.”

“I always felt as if my parent were my friends and that I could share anything with them, even though I kept some things to myself.

“My mom was wonderful! She was the one we knew we could trust our secrets with and were always able to talk to her about anything. I remember staying up until 2:00 am some nights just talking to her. She would always listen and offer advice if needed.”

“My parents were very open and not judgmental when we talked to them about particular issues we faced. Because they did that, we were more open to talk to them and they knew what was going on in our lives.”