Christmas Communication 2

Since Christmas is next week and we’ll be gathering with family and friends, I want to look all week at what Doctor Wayne Mack calls “circuit jammers to family communication,” in his helpful book, “Your Family God’s Way.” Dr. Mack warns against adopting patterns of mind-reading speech. It’s unwholesome to speculate about another person’s thoughts or motives. We can throw a real monkey wrench into our communication with our kids when we assume and tell them what they really meant by what they said. If you’ve been the victim of someone who’s told you, “You can’t fool me. I know what you meant,” you know how quickly communication breaks down. Parents, we must consistently evaluate how we are communicating with our kids, and if we are perpetrators of mind-reading speech, we need to ask forgiveness and change our ways in order to adopt more healthy ways to listen and communicate. How well are you communicating with your teenager?