Dr.edwards mini essay 1 PDF

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Discusses the different types of families and the different communication styles families could have. Discusses what a family is and also shows examples from my own life to further help move the essay along to show the understandings of the different family groups....

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Ariana Perez Dr. Edwards Communication 211 2/23/2018 The Different Types of Family Communication. Families come in many different forms. Families can have diverse ways of child rearing and how they would interact amongst one another. Due to the many ways families interact and function not all families communicate in the same way. The different types of ways families can communicate can be in the categories of laissez-faire, pluralistic, protective, and consensual. All of these different ways families communicate come from the Family Communication Patterns Model. The laissez-faire type of communication in families is about letting the people in your family have free will. In this type of communication there's barely any communication and the children in the family are left to themselves. In a pluralistic home communication is open. Families can openly speak their minds and have a say on what goes on. The children in the family have an input on family topics and when conflicts arise they talk about solutions. The protective communication is about the adults in the family making decisions. Children have no say and it is usually the head of the household that has the final say in anything. Parents in these households don't explain or give reasoning as to why things must be done that way. In a consensual communication household are a mix of pluralistic and protective communication households. They value open communication, but it would be the parents job to make any final decisions. Children can talk to the adults and express themselves but at the same time the parents will have the final say but will listen to the needs of their child.

The closest my family is regarding these family models is consensual and protective. My step-dad has a protective communication and is a very “because I said so” type person. He is someone who believes that you are disrespecting him or trying to cause a fight when you disagree with him or don't do as he says. It is because of this me and him have bumped heads numerous times. While there may be times me and my siblings will try to communicate with him what the issues and problems are he will more likely settle it using authority rather than actually listening to us. I feel like that’s fine if you are dealing with small children, but it doesn’t work for me because I want to be treated as an adult. My mom is more of a consensual type parent. While she may make the rules, she will listen to us. My mom knows that as her kids grow up she can’t control everything we do so she will let us have a voice in some things. My mom treats me as a young adult but will also enforce her rules on me because she views it as “I brought you into this world and I can take you out.”. My mother and I may not always see eye to eye but at least we can hear each other out. In my own life I do use more of the consensual type communication, especially when I am working with kids. I like to hear people’s opinions and problems and finding ways on which we can fix them. It seems to work best with young children because most of the time they never get heard by adults and I find if you just listen to them some things they do care about, and some things do actually worry them. But in the end, it is my decision on what is best for them. I am also the same with friends and in relationships. While I value the communication, I would be having with them I still will have my own opinion and state it. I feel like this type of communication is best for someone like me. I look at myself as an independent person, but I will gladly hear someone else's opinions on topics and will change my mind or change my actions to do what is best for the group or my relationships....