Communicating Differently

I don't think I communicate differently with adults from different cultures. I do, however, communicate differently with children. I try to watch my tone and what I say around children. I also communicate differently with people I do not like or trust. It is so hard for me to have a conversation with someone that I either do not like or do not trust. I know I have an attitude but I try to control it and the things I say when I am around certain people. Outside of that, I talk to everyone the same. 

I also talk differently with my family and friends. I guess I open up more with people that I comfortable with. The things I say to my family and close friends, I can not say to children, co-workers, and families I work with. At one point it was hard for me to separate my personal and my business and the conversations but now it is just like an automatic switch that turns off and on depending on where I am and who is around. 

Communication Skills: Language, Nonverbal, Listening

For this assignment I watched Pit Bulls and Parolees. First I watched the show with the sound turned off. I thought that everyone on the show was related or at least friends based on their interactions. They all worked together and with the dogs. You could tell they all loved the dogs based on their interactions with them. There was a couple of times when I was confused because the mood and facial expressions changed and without the sound, it was hard for me to determine what the reason for the sudden change was. Through-out the majority of the show they all looked either happy or content but there were those times when you could visually see that they were mad. During those times, their facial expressions changed and so did their body language. 

Once I turned on the sound, I got a completely different picture. There was one owner who ran the entire operation. She had a couple kids and the rest of the people on the show were either parolees or volunteers. The times that I thought they were mad, they were actually upset about a dog who needed their help.   

From this assignment, I now realize, now more than ever, that nonverbal communication is just as important as verbal communication. Assumptions can can and will be made if either of these do not match up. For instance, if you are having a great day but you are frowning, people will automatically assume you are in a bad mood (it happens to me all the time).   

 

Competent Communication

             Someone in my life who demonstrated competent communication would have to have been my mother. She was a confident woman in everything she did. She know what to say to people and how to say it. She never said anything offensive or negative to anyone. When she spoke to people she always gave eye contact and faced the person. Her tone was non-threatening but confident.  I would definitely want to model some of my own communication behaviors after her.  She died three days after I graduated from college, December 16, 2008. I love and miss her and hope to be more like her.

 This is the last picture of my mother. It was taken right before my graduation ceremony..She  looked like an ANGEL!!!!