COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWN continued......

WHY IS VERBAL COMMUNICATION SO DIFFICULT? Post No.34 (A 7 minute read)

As modern MAN-MADE societies of peoples, every day we have more tools for communication and yet verbal communication is so notably absent. WHY? When in REALITY what we all fundamentally NEED as human beings is contact with other fellow HUMAN beings. Don´t you think?

As a mother of a new young life, you automatically become teacher. You have a baby who as yet knows not how to speak and it is your job to teach them this very first fundamental skill. But as I like to remind school teachers, those little kiddies could all speak when they came to you! Many like my Puppy, could read and write too!!

As mothers, we had been the initiators of our children´s learning process. When a baby fundamentally knows nothing as yet, how do you teach them? Well, this chapter thirty-one entitled COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWN continued..... (Yes, there has been a previous chapter with the same title!), is all about learning to communicate.

It is a very interesting time to live through as a woman, you learn much about yourself too. Sounds and facial gestures are part of your range of learning accessories. Physical gestures accompanied by words, using eyes and ears in unison. The whole process of word association is done primarily within the home by parents. In this case, ME!

I had an absolute ball, I really did! My Puppy was just like I as a young toddler, he had a voracious appetite for learning and was just like me in his memorial ability; he was like a sponge. So, I who had been a systematic question asker and only given answers when it suited the adult, well, my Puppy was going to have each and every one of his questions answered!!

MY HUMAN PUPPY AND MY ANIMAL PUPPY! WE ALL LEARNT FROM EACH OTHER! DACHSHUNDS ARE SO INTUITIVE! 

I did not always know the answer and I would say that! "So, we will have to go exploring and find out together, won´t we?" And so we did! My toddler Puppy was quite possibly one of my favourite companions in life. It was all learning and teaching, who was teaching what to who and when, I was not always sure. I know that I was learning so much by this experience and as he was such a happy, playful, buzzy, energetic, bold type and well, we had a ball together.

He had a short attention span as do most young children. I would sit initially for just fifteen minutes with him when I began with the writing process and then we would leave everything on his table and go out exploring somewhere. I would incorporate the letter on paper with its usage around us. Word, letter, sound and the real objects that he could then touch, smell, taste, hear, were all fused together in this lovely journey of learning!

We would take a picnic and sit outdoors somewhere and enjoy whatever the weather was and wherever the place was. He was always ready for something new. He was so much fun. I really miss him in my life now. Then we would wend our way back home for a sit down and a twenty minute children´s programmes session. `The sat on my lap´ time which was exquisite.

Back to the concentration training and another practice spell at the letter of the day and then some painting, drawing, colouring activities. Another quick whizz around the park on his bike with me jogging beside him and we would go into the kitchen together and he would help me get the dinner ready.

After dinner it would be time for games. We had a shop called THE EARLY LEARNING CENTRE and it had a wonderful array of material for stimulating young minds. My sister and I were regular shoppers there. So, we would play some games together whilst he digested and then it would be bathtime.

Young children love bathtime and you can get more learning in here, as well as paving the way for bed and sleep. Puppy had his foam alphabet and would fish the letters out of the bubbles and make words on the tiled walls. From there to pyjamas and bed but not without the bedtime story, oh, no! Now that would be unthinkable, that would.

Like Puppy did not have books to choose from, just as my sisters and I had, so did our Puppy have books galore. He would choose the book and snuggled into bed, my last task of the day was one of my favourites, story reading!! I was story reading to him until the teens kicked in. I have sat and read adult books to him (Lord of the Rings for example) whilst he has sat drawing.

Puppy then came to live here in Spain and so found himself learning three languages simultaneously! But he had no trouble there. Our communication skills therefore, had become sublime, it was a beautiful time of life. Puberty kicks in and WHAT????? Suddenly this communicative, chatty, open Puppy is now talking another language!! All based on sounds, grunts and snarls!!!! TESTOSTERONE!!

Is that why males can only communicate sincerely up to puberty? From there on it is the other head that is in control? Well, I managed to keep close to my Puppy through these years as I tell in my book. Controlling that other head was of course, all part of the teaching! Contraception, relationships of all natures but particularly those with girls.

I know I tried very hard to teach him to care for others and he is very caring just like me. Probably like me too, he is too caring for others given what we both receive in return for our care. But hey, he, like I, will quite likely never find that reciprocity which is Mum and child. Is that not what every male seeks to find in his female partner? Yes, I certainly wanted my father´s character traits in my partner but maybe it is the freedom and unconditional support that my father gave me, that few males can replicate.

My father of course, was thinking with a view to his children´s independence from him. A male partner is thinking with a view to making you dependent on him, by not supporting you and blocking your path of freedom. This male does not want you to be independent of him!!

I continue looking at the divine right of the male seed. The problems that adolescents have communicating. I begin looking at how we actually built our languages in the first place and that leads into chapter thirty-two, PICTURE BOOKS, which is the half way point of this, my first book.

How have you done as a parent? Did you suffer communication breakdown with your children at anytime? If you did, have you been able to re-connect? Have your children ever thanked you for all of your dedication to their learning and well being?

Happily I can say that mine has, it can seem a thankless task bringing up teenagers. Babies are one thing, strapping great, stroppy, bristling, snarling, grunting teenagers are another. Be warned!!

Thank you ALL for reading. Please FEEL welcome to comment on this or any other post or make communication via the contact box or click the follow tab and keep up to date. Next post will be PICTURE BOOKS, until then, happy learning!

For any who may be interested in reading my first book, here are the Amazon links: ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN Paperback and ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN e-book