Family Night: Improving Family Communication

Note: Many of you know I teach communication classes at two local colleges. I love my subject matter and have greatly benefitted personally from it. I believe there are many families who could use the information I teach to better improve their relationships at home. In response to this belief, I have created a series of family night lessons that focus on various aspects of communication. The following lesson focuses on verbal communication. Want to receive notification of future lessons to be posted in this series? Like my Facebook page. If you have a specific communication need you would like to see in lesson form, let me know in a comment. Enjoy!

Verbal Communication

Purpose: To encourage effective, Christlike communication in the home.

Scripture: “Therefore, strengthen your brethren in all your conversation, in all your prayers, in all your exhortations, and in all your doings” (D&C 108:7).

Thought: “If we want our relationships to improve, we must learn to speak in positive ways that edify and build those around us” (Mark Ogletree).[1]

Key Term: Communication – “Communication is more than a sharing of words. It is the wise sharing of emotions, feelings, and concerns.”[2]

Lesson: A young mother had the habit of watching television during the bedtime hour. Exhausted from the day’s activities, she felt torn between talking with and caring for her children and taking personal time to enjoy her shows. While pondering the problem, the mother made the decision to turn off the television and make time to talk with her children. “After about two weeks of leaving the television off, I felt a burden somehow lifted. I realized I felt better, even cleaner somehow, and I knew I had made the right choice.”[3]

Conversation is central to family relationships. It is an indicator of how close family members are, as well as the means for developing that closeness, encourage teamwork, and promote problem solving. Without communication, relationships fumble and fade. As a result, keeping an open dialogue—genuine two-way interaction—between family members is crucial. However, talking together does not always come easily. As Rosemary Wixom taught, “It takes time to focus on the things that matter most. Talking, listening, and encouraging do not happen quickly. They cannot be rushed or scheduled—they happen best along the way.”[4]

Following the Principle of Cooperation[5] while talking can help family members communicate effectively:

1.      Be Clear – communicate in a straightforward manner; avoid ambiguity. Ask directly for what you need.

2.      Be Relevant – talk about what is related to the conversation at hand. Do not jump topics too quickly.

3.      Be Honest – present only information known or assumed to be truthful; do not lie or exaggerate.

4.      Be Informative – give neither too little nor too much information; get to the point in a timely manner. Be willing to share additional information if asked.

5.      Be Positive – check thoughts before speaking; strive to uplift, encourage, and inspire. Being continuously negative or critical often leads to conflict.

Activity: Come up with a secret code (e.g., reversed words, read only every other letter, PigPen code, etc.) and have family members encode positive messages to each other. Let each person decode their messages. Use this as an attention-getter to lead into discussing the importance of effective communication.

 

For Little Ones: Have each child choose a favorite fairy tale, storybook, or scripture story (this video story of The 3 Billy Goats would work well). Read, watch, or re-tell the story, then discuss how effective the communication was among the characters. Ask how the characters could have improved their communication. Use each of the Principle of Cooperation points as guidelines.

Challenge: Discuss strategies for bettering family dialogue overall. Select one of the five characteristics of the Principle of Cooperation to improve on in the upcoming week.

Suggested Music: “Let Us Oft Speak Kind Words” (Hymns no. 232) or “If the Savior Stood Beside Me” (available for download on lds.org, or see October 1993 Friend Magazine).

See a different communication lesson here.

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[1] Mark Ogletree, “Speak, Listen and Love,” Ensign, February 2014, 15.

[2] Marvin J. Ashton, “Family Communications,” Ensign, May 1976, 52.

[3] Susan Heaton, “Talk Time Instead of TV Time,” Ensign, Oct. 1998, 73.

[4] Rosemary M. Wixom, “Taking Time to Talk and Listen,” Ensign, April 2012, 10.

[5] Adapted from Lindblom, K., “Cooperating with Grice: A cross-disciplinary metaperspective on uses of Grice’s cooperative principle,” Journal of Pragmatics, 2001, 33:1601.