Relationships are important because people help support you, encourage you, and help you grow. This summer my mom passed away and without the support of my husband, my siblings, and my friends I would not have gotten through. I am lucky to be very close to all my siblings and they are the ones I call when I need help. My sisters have really helped me since having my daughter because they were able to share their experience with me when I was having problems. However, since my husband is military we live 14 hours away from my family so I have had to work to maintain the bonds with my family through phone calls and Skype. This is also true for my friends that live far away. Without communication the relationship fades away so there are some friends that I am no longer close to because due to different work and family schedules we have not been able to communicate enough to stay close.
I have also learned there are many challenges to building a relationship. Since I am a military spouse I have had to move to a different area twice and each time it was hard meeting people. I am a naturally shy person and have trouble starting conversations with people. This has made it hard making friends because I have had to step outside of my comfort zones several times in order to make friends.
My husband and I have a special relationship in that we are equals working towards a common goal that we have for our family. This requires constant communication and compromise because we are different people who have very different perspectives sometime. Because we have common bonds with our daughter there is not the option of letting the relationship fade. Even in times of disagreement we must work together to find a solution and remember our love for each other.
Reflecting on my relationships with family and friends reminds that we have relationships with our coworkers and families we serve and we much work as partners to meet our common goal of helping children. There will be times we disagree with coworkers and families, however because we are partners we need to use effective communication and work through the problem. If we are not able to do this then we will lose the support and experience from our coworkers and lose the respect from our families. Without all these we will not be effective in our positions.
Your so right that when relationships are not cultivated and nurtured they can fade, however the true relationships that are bonded can pick up right where they left off just as time had stood still. Also you can also tell how strong a relationship is or what type of relationships you have when you experience a personal tragedy in your life. How the people around you help uplift you during that time provides you with support.
ReplyDeleteSupport is the foundation of a relationship. When it comes to programs and families the program provides the support a parent needs for child care. They have the trust that the program will provide their child with quality care.
Jennie,
ReplyDeleteI can very much relate to you when you are talking about your relationship with your husband. At time my husband and I do not see eye to eye and it will take sometime to come up with a compromise. But in having experienced this we can take this experience and spin it into early childhood and this experience will help us when we have either a co-worker or a parent who does not see eye to eye with us to work on a compromise in remembering the children that we are all there for.
Jolene Hernandez-Romero
Jennie,
ReplyDeleteI completely understand being shy. It does make finding new friends in a new place difficult. You are a strong person to continue to try. It can help you as well in your classroom with children who are shy. I have found it gives me more compassion and more patience with those personalities.
Relationships defineitly need to people in order to work successfully. I completely understand about how hard it can be to meet people when you move. I moved here from Canada in 2008 and found it rather difficult to make new friendships. But I did allow myself like you to step outside of my comfort zone, and put myself out there in order to meet new people.
ReplyDeleteJennie,
ReplyDeleteI can relate to you when you spoke about having to move to new places and have to go through the process of finding new friends. This can actually be a very overwhelming and stressful process for some people especially those that don't have the family support you spoke about. What suggestions would you have for someone is this situation to find new friends and build new relationships?
First off, congrats to you for maintaining a relationship with a military man. I have family in the military and this is not an easy thing to do. I am sorry to hear about the loss of your mother. It's wonderful that you found the strength to get through it in others. I also respect your take on working through difficult times. This stance is beneficial in both our personal and professional lives.
ReplyDeleteJennie,
ReplyDeleteI would like to give you my deepest condolences on the lost of your mother. My best friend just lost her mother to cancer this past November and it was not a easy thing. But, with strong family and friendships which were crucial in her bereavement process. I can relate to some relationships not maintaining due to loss of communication for some of the various reasons that you stated, but, I do have two friends that I do not communicate with regularly, but as Angelika mentioned if your friendships are strong it is like time stands still and you can pick up right where you left off.
Jennie,
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to hear about the loss of your mother.
I don't live as far from my friends as you, however I just moved back to Tennessee and they live in Arkansas. It's not far but with our work schedules, it's hard to see them. I found my true friends in college, so it has been hard moving back home. We communicate every day through group messages, calls, etc. I'm happy to have found them because they are very encouraging and real. It's hard to find genuine friends and establish those relationships.
Chelsey Crawford