Communication: The Importance Of Active Listening

Communication can be considered a cornerstone of a person’s ability to function in society, their standing in the family and ultimately their overall performance in life’s roller coaster-like journey. Effective communication is a crucial characteristic of a strong and healthy family, enabling the family to be more capable of conflict resolution, subsequently becoming more satisfied with their relationships. Families must build strong communication skills, utilize active listening and seize opportunities presented in their daily activities and interactions to have the best chance at meaningful marital, parent-child and sibling relationships. If families are able to commit to these ideas they could very well see an improvement in their family and societal relationships as well as mental health.

A child’s verbal and non-verbal skills must be developed at an early age in order to lay the foundation for learning and parents must continue to remain involved, even after the start of formal education. Often families fail to advance a child’s communication abilities within the household, choosing to rely on the education …show more content…
A person’s first inclination is to think of the verbal aspects of communication and fail to realize that listening, specifically active listening, is an important part of communication. Hearing what a person, whether an adult or child, is saying is not enough; the listener must understand the message. This is where active listening comes into the communication landscape. Active listening lets the speaker know that their audience is fully receiving the message. A person can aid understanding by asking, “Is that what you meant when you said…” Fully understanding the message eliminates confusion, a key goal of active listening. Once the skills of communicating and active listening are in place the family as a whole can put them into practice; they just need to take advantage of