Acceptance and Understanding 1

Running Head: Acceptance+Understanding

Acceptance and Understanding

Baroness Thompson
Interpersonal effectiveness PSY 180
Psy D Gladys Ato
May 12, 2008
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Acceptance and Understanding

Interpersonal Effectiveness is an important aspect of all humans’ lives. Many people

hide behind their past and current life situations. As children we are taught different ways to

deal with situations that are unwanted. As we mature we use these coping skills to deal with

life’s ups and downs. We learn how to motivate ourselves, if we want to succeed. We also

learn how to comfort ourselves in our down falls. Children need social and emotional support.

Parents that didn’t receive social and emotional support as children, raise their children as

they see fit. It is important for parents and adults to be open to all aspects that life brings. All

children are different, and each Childs needs fluctuate.

As an adolescent I dealt with many unwanted calamites. My community failed me. My

peers were negative impacts on my life. Somehow was able to venture into my own world. Many

times I ponder about why my life was so bad, but reality is reality. I have always used school to

persevere. When I was 16 I worked in the day and attended college at night. I received my

diploma when I was 17 years old. I was on independent study, because I feared for my life I my

school setting. My peer’s were amoral. Saw stabbings shootings in school daily. I use the world

calamity to a broad extent. I am unable to think of any other word to describe my experiences. I

am a very amiable person. My ability to communicate with people is very effective. The quality

of my reason ship with my peers has had a very negative impact on my current life relationships.

I have a false sense of how I should be viewed by my peers.

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When w 21 I had a son. He was the attribute to my new attitude on life as a parent. I focused

every aspect of my life on him. I promised myself to never taint his image. I didn’t want my

child to go through the flagrant childhood I had gone through.

I am 30 years old now. I feel like old women. I have worked the same job fob 7 years and

that has stayed consistent. Change is very concurrent in my life. I now have three young

children. They are doing very while in school. Their father and I will be married this year. I

change careers but I won’t digress. I am a person who avoids conflict. I am also the antecedent

to most of the conflicts in my life and personal relationships. I believe my peers view me as out

spoken. I always have the answer to someone’s problem. I have always been the person that

everyone wants to talk to.

My family has been separated for a very long time. We lost our house in Emeryville

in1999. My grandfather was Creoeo. He spoke French and a little English. My grandfather was

the first black cement contractor in Oakland. He passes away when my mother was sixteen. She

doesn’t talk about him a lot. She always said “He was mean and he spoke very fast.” She claims

she couldn’t understand any thing he said. He bought my grandmother the house that my sibling

and I were raised in. My grandparents were very strict. My mother graduated from Oakland Tech

at the age of 16. She went to law school and got married. She divorced and married my oldest

brother’s father. She lived in Los Angles until I was 7. She was married 4 times. I was born In
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Los Angles. My mother moved from L.A. when I was 7 years old. All of my mothers husband

where physically and emotionally abusive.

My mother has always been very passive. I have one brother and two sisters. She raised

all of us alone. My father’s mother was half white. She gave my father away when he was a

baby. She had seven children after him. When she was 45 she had was diagnosed with

Alzheimer. She was placed in a mental hospital. I have never met any of my grandparents. I was

only fortunate to be around my mother’s mother.

I am the youngest of four. My brother has a Masters in Organizational Deployment from

Peperdine University. My middle sister has a B.A in Law obtained from Saint Marys. My oldest

sister has a One Hour photo Shop in Emeryville. I have 13 nieces and nephews. I have 3

children. Their father and I have been together for 11 years.

I have been to over twenty funerals of my friends and close relatives. Before the age of

eighteen, I had been robbed at gun point twice. I had been raped and jumped by twenty people. I

was then stripped naked in broad day light. I had to find someone to help me. I had been socked

in the mouth and my lip was split open. As I talk about my flagrant childhood experiences I feel

sick. I also thank god I am alive.

In closing, as a child I saw my mother help many people. She was addicted to crack

through out most of my life. My mother is a reflection of my family. She has always tried to run

away from reality. She has never had anyone to lean on besides her children. This attitude has

left her children following in her footsteps.

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This class will be very hard for me. My life has been very hard. Nevertheless, it is

important to open up and talk about things that you can’t change. I am a very open minded

person. I believe education is the key to perseverance.