Having a family is rewarding and challenging all at the same time. Your kids mean the world to you and your spouse is someone who you love dearly. It’s hard to believe that you’d ever face any conflict with people who you care so deeply for.
The truth is that life happens and people change. Outside influences and exterior distractions will try to get between you and your family. You have to be stronger than those forces and work on building a family unit that can withstand these types of challenges. Know there will be obstacles as you try to bring your family closer together, but don’t let that stop you from meeting your goal.
Participate in Activities Together
It’s extremely important that you spend quality time together with your family members if you want to create a stronger bond. You’re not going to get very far if everyone’s always going their separate ways and disengaged from the family. Participate in activities like going for bike rides, playing outside and volunteering as a group. What matters is that you make time in your schedule to be with the ones you love. Set boundaries at work so you leave on time and use your weekends wisely. Remember to have fun, talk and enjoy these special moments.
Discuss Big Decisions as A Family
Although big decisions are ultimately up to the adults, you’re going to be a stronger family unit when you work together. For example, if your kids are old enough, then talk to them about your plan to move houses. Have them pitch in by working with you to secure a company like Small Movers to help you move. Instead of telling them what you’re doing, bring your kids in on the fun and have them contribute to this big undertaking. It’s likely they’ll be more onboard with it if they feel included and like their opinions are valued.
Talk about your Problems with Each Other
Practice open communication and ask family members to be forthcoming with feelings and emotions on a regular basis. Create an environment that’s nurturing and welcoming to talking about problems people are having at school, work or with each other. You can even discuss sensitive topics like money and finance. Perhaps your children want to talk about the best no credit credit cards or perhaps your feeling financially strained and need your family to understand your current financial situation. Getting these issues out on the table early will hopefully prevent any big blowups down the road. Your family unit will be stronger if you understand one another and are comfortable speaking up when you have a problem weighing on your mind.
Eat Dinner as A Group
A great opportunity to converse with each other and talk about your days is at dinner time. Get in the habit of cooking and eating your evening meal together as a group. Make sure everyone is aware of what you’re trying to accomplish and clears their schedules to be a part of it. You’re not going to be able to grow as strong of a family bond if you’re always missing someone at the table. Know that some nights you may not have much to talk about and other evenings you could be chatting the entire time. Go with the flow and just be glad you’re all together.
Go on Vacations
Travel together, and you’ll naturally become closer to one another. This is because you’ll be creating memories and experiencing new adventures that will last a lifetime. You’ll always have this time you spent as a family imprinted in your minds and can talk and reminisce about the trip as a group later on. Pick a time each year when you’ll get away as a family and embark on a journey as you travel around to different locations. A vacation is the perfect setting to relax and get to know each other better too.
Encourage one another
Be a role model for your kids at home by showing them what it looks like to encourage one another. Do so with your spouse in front of your children, so encouragement becomes second nature to them. Cheer one another on and support each other in your various activities and with work and school. Push the negativity aside and focus on the positives and what’s going right in all your lives. Talk to your kids about encouragement and what that looks like to them. Help each other out by catching one another when someone’s being pessimistic and putting a loved one down.
Learn to Deal with Anger in A Healthy way
A lot of anger can quickly break a family apart. Hanging onto resentment and grudges will only hurt you all in the long run. Learn how to deal with your anger in a healthy way and then teach your kids to do this same. Introduce them to coloring, exercising and talking through emotions, which are healthy behaviors they can use to work through frustrations. This will help reduce any yelling or volatile situations in the household. Remember to decrease fighting and anger with your spouse too because your kid is always watching.
Minimize Judgments
Constantly judging each other and criticizing will get old real fast. Your once strong family unit will soon weaken, and you’ll become more distant from one another. Create a household that doesn’t use judgments, but encourages compassion and understanding. Make everyone mindful of the words they speak and how judgments can quickly hurt people’s feelings. As the parent, keep in mind that judging yourself should also be monitored and that doing so in front of your children may affect how they think about themselves. Instead, use positive language and words that help and don’t harm one another.
Conclusion
Family is for life, so it’s a good idea to try to work together and get on the same page. Become a stronger unit by practicing behaviors in the household that encourage and uplift each other. This way you’ll be working from a solid foundation, and one small fight won’t completely ruin you as a group. Use these tips to help guide you to better days and create an environment that’s supportive and allows each individual to thrive.
Nice photo. Good to have a strong family unit.