Building a Close Family

[dwrobel]

3 Powerful Tips for Building a Close Family

I couldn’t wait to have children, 1 year after marriage we had our first child, 11 years later we are blessed with 3 children 10, 7 and 5. My biggest fear has always been; losing touch with my children as they continue to grow older and become more independent. Being proactive my wife and I have developed 3 keys things that we do consistently to build a close family. They work and the results are priceless, you can adapt them anyway you like the most important thing is that you get something in place to create a close knit relationship with your children, so when it comes time for them to make the difficult decisions that could alter their life, they will feel comfortable enough to share them with you.

Power Tip # 1: One and Ten, everyday at dinner time we go around the table to each person and ask them what their 1 and 10 was for the day. One being the worst thing that happened to them and ten being the best thing that happened to them for the day, everyone does this including the parents. Our children will say things like: Sara from school was nasty to me today, I slipped and fell on the playground, I didn’t do good on my test. The good ones we hear are: I did great on my test, I had so much fun with a new girl at school, lunch was great etc. I think you get the picture. We all end up offering advice to each other about the bad things of the day and what they should do the next time something similar happens.

Benefits

• Share with each other the parts of our day that we weren’t together
• Learn to express their feelings
• Creates a Family Tradition
• Helps them realize events can be bad, not entire days

Power Tip #2: Family stretching as we like to call it, every night or most nights a different member of the family is in charge of leading the rest of the family in a 10 minute stretching routine. We set the timer on the microwave and the leader stands in front of us like the gym teacher at school and leads us in several different stretches. It’s amazing to see your children at such a young age being so creative, we have certainly been part of some new stretches I don’t even think Olympic coaches have seen.

Benefits

• Leadership skills
• Self esteem
• Self confidence.
• Creates a Family Tradition

Power Tip #3: Change Your Focus from everyday chores to a life lesson you can teach your children while you both do the chore. I know for myself when I do things around the house I focus so much on getting the chore done so I can spend more time with my children, I’ve missed on too many occasions an opportunity to spend time with my children, get the chore done and make a lasting impact all at the same time. Instead of pulling weeds by yourself or doing the dishes, washing windows etc, invite one or all of your children to help you out, to pitch in for the family team. Use this opportunity to teach them some sort fo life lesson from whatever it is you are doing. Example: if you’re pulling weeds explain to your child that sometimes in life you have to get rid of some of the ‘weeds’ (bad habits, bad friends etc) in order for the flowers or grass to grow healthy. It doesn’t take much time before your children will look forward to this time together, the key is to make the time fun, education is always easier to absorb if it’s fun.

Benefits

• Quality One-on-One Time
• Teach Life Lessons
• Bonding
• Building a Foundation for a Close Relationship
• Creates a Family Tradition