Family Reflection

This week my family sat down to discuss our holiday plans. We all lead busy lives and it is now very rare to see all four of my father’s children at the same family function. My father however wants us all to be together as a family before the year is out and so he called a family meeting to discuss where we can go as a family for during the 2015 holiday season. The only place I want to be for the holidays is Bermuda and since I am the only one, it was easy to sit back and observe the rest of my family communicate and make these decisions.

This group consisted of my three siblings and our father. I believe that the members of this performed the task decently. At the end of the meeting it was decided that we would all go to Granny’s (my father’s mother) house for Thanksgiving and if we wanted to go our own thing for Christmas, we would be free to.

Everyone came with his or her own idea of what would make the holidays special. My younger brother decided that he would rather be all-alone at school. He has an apartment rented for the entire year and he likes the idea of having it all to himself while all his roommate are back home with their families. My older brother suggested that we all go to a resort. This would give

I also learned that it is best to be prepared when going into a meeting. While everyone had suggestions, no one came with prices for hotels, rental cars, flights etc. so time during the meeting was spent looking up such things to help weigh the pros and cons of each possible holiday adventure. I also learned from observing this discussion that active listening is an important part of managing a group discussion. When members feel understood and important, they are more likely to open up and be an active part of the group as the meeting goes on as well as in future