The Art of Connection: Rebuilding the Bridges of Family Communication In the heart of every thriving home, family communication tips are the tools that bridge
As a child, I often used to wonder why are marriages spoiled? The most beautiful relationships coming to end in the spur of a second. What can be the reason for breaking a beautiful sleep?
I have got my answer. There can be 101 reasons for a breakup in a marriage or even a relationship. But what I am going to tell you today will be something, no one ever told you. A catalyst. So let us start.
We often talk about parents bonding and vice versa but anything in excess has its side effects. In marriages, every day is a battlefield where either the husband or the wife plays the role of a warrior to save the family from forces that want to harm them.
But then, there are days when this battle is lost and the forces at work win. This all seems like a fairy tale, but real life is no less than these tales; only the characters are human beings facing real-life threats and scams and negativity.
In most marriages, either person/partner needs to be of sound/balance mind lest you want a break-up. Anyways, being a woman and a wife, most of us know where to hit the nail.
If the nail is not hit on the head, then the consequences can be great. The same is the case of a break-up in Marriages. Husbands are born to bear a lot of pain obviously not childbirth which is not their realm but theoretically speaking loss of a loved one and other craps.
One thing a husband can never bear is anything said against his parents or maybe siblings. You want to bring out the monster in him, take a shot and then you will know what I mean.
It is not that they don’t know about the ills done by their family; it’s the acknowledgment that they fail to recognize. We train our children right from the beginning to accept their mistakes and own them but why do we not teach them to question their parents when they are wrong.
I know the rights and duties of parents but why are we failing in this regard. When the survival of marriage becomes difficult, why is a woman always told to have patience and bear all the shit of the inlaws and husbands? And why is she reminded of her duty towards all?
Why is not the husband told all this and why don’t the inlaws stop meddling with the affairs of the couple and put their noses where it is needed?
Not all in-laws or parents have the stamina to share their sons with an outsider(wife). No matter how devoted she might be, there will always be a reason to corner her and have what one seeks.
It’s a sorry state of affairs but this is a common practice in 90 percent of cases in Asian marriages and there is no single law to put the in-laws in their places and not to meddle with couple personal matters.
When training and grooming our children, we need to teach them justice and to keep all at par without infringing anyone’s rights.
As an individual, Educational institution, and even as a parent, you must have faced this; how to talk with parents when it concerns the progress of a child. In Pakistan, very few know these successful strategies that concern these basic areas.
So today, I will discuss with you a few successful strategies that will give you food for thought to incorporate in your systems and capacity building programmes for the teachers. So let’s start.
The first successful strategy to win parents is to have Clarity. As an institution, or even as an individual, one needs to know exactly what they are going to say to the parents and mean it and ensure it whether they have been understood clearly.
As most of the time parents are communicated things in a vague manner which leaves many questions unanswered and the concerned teachers don’t ensure whether they have been successful in delivering their message across the board.
There is no need to feel shy if you have to repeat yourself even for a trillion times.No one will be offended.
The second successful strategy would be to have a professional attitude. Be friendly yet a professional. As a teacher or institution or even a parent do not discuss other people’s negativity or apply it on the child concerned.
In Pakistan, most schools and their staff fail to understand that comparisons and negativity lead nowhere. Its an institution we are talking about.
To cater to these challenges proper training need to be imparted along with developing and cultivating a proper mindset.
The third successful strategy to win parents would be a Positive Attitude. Such an attitude needs to be seen in practice too.
When one can help parents in positively parenting their child without patronizing their capabilities for their child’s upbringing, then the positive attitude is seen at its best.
Also, this positivity is seen when you as an institution, an individual and a parent can add to the learning capability of a child. This is why institutions were made. Are we practising this stuff in our institutions?
The fourth successful strategy to win parents would be to have Backups. By backup, I mean that you need to support what you are saying in terms of sample work or some kind of documentation.
If you have worked on a similar situation with some other child, you can always document that and show it to the parents in your scheduled meetings.
In Pakistan people in institutions go by words from the mouth. That is all the authenticity, you will receive here. To win the parents trust, you need to bring in the documentation to support yourself.
The fifth strategy to win parents is the need to be Flexible. There is always room for improvement provided you are open to suggestions. Being in charge of the situation does not mean you are all in all.
There would be times when the situation requires improvising new strategies and coming up with an alternative plan of action.
There are not many schools in Pakistan who are up for these mind-changing flexibilities. Their word is against the suffering parents and their children. At the end of the day. what are they producing in the form of lots? This, I will answer at the end.
The sixth successful strategy to have winning parents is to Include children wherever possible. Making children part of a discussion always help in the long run. It gives children the confidence that they too matter.
A discussion only concerning the parents and the institution is rather a dead discussion.
The child needs to know what’s going on regarding him or her. It makes them understand their responsibility and what is required of them. Children young(10-onwards) and mature should always be made a part of such discussions.
And Lastly, every teacher should know the course they are teaching and explain it in a layman’s term to the parents. In Pakistan, mostly teacher’s are not clear themselves about the syllabus.
How can you expect them to explain it to the parents? There should be sessions regarding syllabus and explained well to the parents so that parents are at par with the teachers and school and likewise.
These are some of the successful strategies that can help any institution win parents. As parents, we are all trying to work towards a common goal which is the growth of a learner/child.
But the strategies being used at present in the educational institutions are producing cattle and slaves with no mind of their own. A mind to only receive orders and not think. For those who think are treated no less than an outcast or even as misfits.
But let me remind you, it is the misfits who are the cause of change in a rotten society. They are the real agents of change and are finally addressed as heroes or heroines when they achieve their true worth and show to the world what they are capable of.
It is not a lot to think about. Still think about it if you want to have a win-win situation.