Family communication is important because families who can communicate find it a lot easier to discuss issues, problems, and even crises when they occur. If you know how families work, issues and problems arise often. Listening and becoming a better listener is important because families need to understand each other and be compassionate with one another. Communication patterns affect family relationships in a huge way.

In chapter 11 of "Interpersonal Communication; relating to others", family is defined as "a social group having specified roles and statuses with ties of blood, marriage, or adoption who usually share a common residence and cooperate economically." There are two ways to look at interactions with family. There is communication between family members and among family members. Communication among family members involves communication of the family in its entirety. Communication between family members looks at each individual relationship.

The book "Interpersonal Communication; relating to others" defines both communication and interpersonal communication. Communication is defined as the "process of acting on information" and interpersonal communication is de

Families communicate almost everyday and most of the time no one sits back to think about how they could communicate better with their family. SO, you ask, how can you communicate with your family better and why should you? It is important to develop good relationships with family members before a crisis occurs. These are inevitable. Families deal with many obstacles, and in an unfortunate time of death or need, one should be able to communicate with family members. They must also be compassionate to your feelings and needs.

If they don't have someone who is going to be a receptive listener, then they won't have anyone to talk to. Communication is a two-way street. You have to be there for your family if you want them to be there for you. If they know that you are generally concerned about them and how they feel, then they will build trust and they will be there for you as well. A relationship with your family members is not too much different than any other relationship. Even though you are born into a family, you still have the choice to be an active participant in the family system.

The ability to adapt in a family is very important. Families that are very set on tradition have a hard time adapting when circumstances arise. Family communication is important here because if they can talk about change it is easier to adapt to change. For example, I know a single parent household in which a 15 year old girl became pregnant. The mother and daughter had a rough relationship. The girl never told her mother until she was 5 months pregnant. She received no medical care for her child up until this point. If the family communication was better then the girl would have told her mother and they hopefully would have been able to adapt. The mother and daughter now have a very open and loving relationship, they have adapted with the baby and they are happy in their relationship with one another.

So far I have been talking mostly about communication among family members. That is like the whole picture, we really haven't started talking about the relationships that each individual has with each other. On more of a one on one basis, the relationship that a husband and wife have with each other and as parents, and also the relationships between siblings.

To be an effective listener: Don't make everything about you, don't compare everything they say to yourself or something you have seen or done. Get rid of noise externally as well as internally. Concentrate on what is being said and not who is saying it. Also, when you get to a point where you are sick of talking about the same thing, finish talking about it another time. For example, an argument between two siblings has evolved into a discussio

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Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)