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Personal Narrative: Improving Interpersonal Communication

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Enrolling in this class is particularly important as my communication with my five teenage children have taken a dramatic nosedive since their father and I divorced. All five primarily live with me and spend time with their father three weekends a month as per our custody agreement. Unfortunately, the pain following a divorce is not exclusive to just one child, they are all suffering. Some exhibit it overtly and tend to be aggressive in their choice of communication, however, all could benefit from my improving my interpersonal communication skills. (P.11) Tumultuous doesn’t begin to describe what the last year has felt like. Every day is a barrage of worst case scenarios and survival techniques. Personally I can now say I have experience with children who cut, attempt suicide, fail their freshman year of school, lie, steal and exhibit behavior that I have no words to explain. Getting them into counseling was my first choice, but there is a second …show more content…

As the book states, “…these disclosures only intensify the children’s mental and physical distress and make them feel caught between the two parents.” (P. 61) Hindsight allows me to see that it didn’t matter that I felt ganged up on, nor did it matter that I egregiously believed my children were mature enough to handle the scope of information I provided them. While I justified it by telling myself I was providing context or details as to why we were getting a divorce, sharing information that would help them understand why I made the decisions I made, the bottom line is that it was selfish. I was a poor example of how to successfully parent, communicate competently and I don’t know if I can repair the damage I have done. My children might be as tall and eat more than adults, but they are minor children. I was the only adult in the room and I should have kept my mouth

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