What Are Social Norms In Communication

Even though, I knew my mom would be asleep when I got home, I still texted her and let her know I was going to be late for curfew just in case she woke up through the night. I knew I could possibly get in trouble, but I would rather have gotten in trouble than have my mom be worried about my whereabouts. In the end, I faced no consequences because I was honest and maintained communication with her. Communicating with my father has always been a bit more difficult and different than communicating with my mother. I attribute this to out gender and more specifically, societal norms that determine how to communicate as men and women. There are certain topics or situations I do not discuss with him and only discuss with my mom due to her being able to understand more.
For instance, I was upset with my best friend at the time and I was attempting to explain to him what happened. Half-way through the explanation, he cut me off and in summation felt as if the entire argument was dumb and I needed to just apologize. At the time, he did not understand that first, I just wanted someone to be there to listen and second, he should’ve been more supportive of my opinions and actively listened to me. These patterns within my family dynamic have impacted who I communicate with and how I go about doing so. I have found based on gender norms that are societally based I can have much more deep and open conversations with my female friends, peers, and instructors. I have found that honesty and respect is always the best policy to follow when communicating with others. Within both of my households, I learned when communicating with others it is very important to listen. My mother taught me this with her actions while my father taught me this with his lack thereof at times. This has proved to be incredibly beneficial as I work toward obtaining my post-secondary