Interpersonal Communication

Interpersonal communication usually involves the written, oral as well as nonverbal forms of communication. Since teenagers are often in touch with their parents, it is apparent that they will have to speak to them as they communicate. Speaking to another person is usually personal and happens face to face most times. There are three reasons why effectiveness in interpersonal communication is so important. One is the fact that it is inescapable, that it is irreversible, and that it is complicated. These three elements often make it tough for teenagers, who would otherwise wish to delink from their parents, find it hard because at times what they say are regrettable thing and hence the relationship with parents who wish to control them a complicated game (Bateman, 1990).

Many teenagers feel caged if by any chance their parents are either controlling, or they are not sensitive to their particular needs. Every teen wants to feel that there have a certain degree of freedom, and that the opinions of their peers matter. If what their friends tell them and what their parents tell them is conflicting, then there is the chance that the interpersonal communication between them and their parents may hit the rocks.

I wanted to go to a party that was to go on past midnight. I asked my mum if it was OK, and she said that I can never go to a party she suspected was a Keg party while I was still a high school student. I stormed out and muttered a curse under my breath. It wasn’t a Keg party, it was my best friend’s birthday party. Communication failed. If I was patient, and a little more persuasive, probably mama would have let me go.

Interviews for parents:

Parents believe that they are to be strict and concise if they are to maintain respects when communicating with teenagers. Some parents see that this will drive their teenage children nuts. While others let their teenagers simply do as they will, they end up feeling a loss if they become errant. The parents we interviewed all believed it is necessary to be moderate.

The parents generally agreed that their teenagers need to be punished every time they do wrong. But they explained the difference between being wrong, and disagreeing. They say that at times they, as parents, are also wrong. It is this occasions that there has to be a consensus. Interpersonal communication comes in handy. They discuss the disagreement, and if the parent is convinced that there is cause to reiterate from their previous decision or assumption, then they change and agree with the teens. If not, the parent takes a stand.

The parents say that coming together after a disagreement is not easy. But the first and most important thing they wish to put out to teens is that they love them. All that they do, as they explained, is done out of love. Correction is necessary, but not as necessary as dialogue. The parents try and understand their teenagers point of view, while, on the other hand, they show them the reasons why they’ve reasoned as they have (McIntyre, 2010).

Interviews for teenagers:

Parents are at a place of authority, so agreed some of the teenagers we interviewed, and this gives them the right to be decision makers in certain aspects of their lives as their offspring. Therefore the teenagers seemed to agree that being persuasive works out best. Some suggested blackmail, but a group member explained that this is not an effective way to improve interpersonal communication.

Most teenagers say that they persist till they are sure that their parents cannot change their mind. However, due to the fact that some of them are intrinsically dictatorial, the teens choose to be privy and do things behind their parents back. However, the best answer we got out of them was that do all they can to show their parents that they love them, that they don’t judge them, and that being clear and truthful seems to always work in the long run.

When teenagers disagree with their parents, the communication becomes complicated. However, they agree that they should speak in clear, concise language that their parents can understand. When they do not succeed in convincing their parents, they do not introduce hatred, as they know there will be a next time.

The lesson best learned while communicating with my parents is that they know best, for they have lived long and seen much. As much as we think that we have a fantastic opinion of our own as teenagers, the opinion of our parents should be carefully considered.

As teenagers, we are very much depended on our parents. And if we are to get what we want from them, then we are to be careful how we communicate with them, for we are more in need of them than they are of us.

Each of the team members went out and asked questions from our parents and our teenage siblings and friends. Not to make it seem personal, no one asked their own parents the questions; instead we switched and asked each other’s parent or brothers and sisters.

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