Effective Communication & Communicating Effectively

Last weekend was refreshing - on Friday, 19th June, I had an opportunity to speak to the parents of The Indian High School Dubai's magnificent Shaikh Rashid Auditorium - Grades Five and Six, as part of an initiative by the school's Counselling Centre - the topic chosen was "Effective Communication With Your Pre-Teens"....very interesting subject, especially as Pre-teens are the new Adolescents, in the media-explosive 21st Century. I began by outlining some of the interesting characteristics of Pre-Teens, the Challenges that Parents faced in communicating with their hitherto angelic children, as they stepped into the dreaded age group of 9-12 years, then went on to state and explain some do's and dont's in communicating with this age group.....vigorous debate, interesting questions and overall I hope we atleast managed to touch the tip of the iceberg, of a subject that is as vast as perhaps the virtual world we now inhabit! Speaking to those parents, I began to understand what a lot of issues the iconoclastic Gen Next - with its complete defiance of systems and authority - had created for its care givers, parents, teachers.....each person assumes theirs is a unique agony, but having a forum where parents could come and vent their spleen perhaps helped deal with the frustrations somewhat! And here's hoping we did actually start off a communication process!