ABSTRACT
As human beings, our words, voice tone, gestures and facial expressions quickly prompt another to trust and enjoy us, or to challenge and provoke us. Our amazing capacity to communicate is a uniquely expressive aspect of being human, and it is to our advantage to learn the skills to have the harder conversations: how to draw on language that does not personalise or hurt, but is peace-making, healing and has the intent to solve problems.
The spirit of this chapter is to teach young people the skills to communicate with poise, strength and respect, even when another doesn't appear to deserve our kindest effort. This is approached through a series of directed activities and targeted role-plays.
The ART of maintaining truly assertive language patterns when heated moments arise is a frontier that receives too little attention in homes, classrooms, schools and in the community. Yet, the set of skills to put relational communication patterns into action are specific and highly teachable.
If we're committed to raising the quality of communication skills in young people, then we must be committed to upskilling our own capacities and modelling what we want from our children, at home and in schools, openly, every day, especially when the going gets tough.
