MYJ - Strengthening Family Relationships

Activities: View stories from p ‘You and Your Family’ article Discuss key points List the guidelines for getting along with your parents (p 92/93) Answer questions on p 94 Students to make a journal entry regarding trust that includes: a reason why trust is important between family members; two things they have done in the last few weeks that might help build their parents’ trust; two actions they can take to continue building trust with the adults in their family NB: Ask students to bring in a favourite family recipe for next weeks lesson

THE QUOTES

THE QUOTES 2

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you and your family Have you ever been in a helicopter? It's fun slow enough to pick up details you might miss from a fast plane, and high enough to see things you can't see from the ground. This chapter will be a helicopter ride over your family. It will help you understand your family better and see things you might have missed before. It may even help them understand you! The chapter describes some basic ideas that have made lots of families happier together. You

Who s Supposed to do the Housework? Not many people think housework is great fun. Still, most of us have to do it sometimes. By "housework," I mean everything from cooking and doing the dishes to washing clothes and sweeping. These things need to be done to keep home comfortable and running smoothly. Anna and Robert, like most teenagers, think housework is a real pain. Since their parents divorced last year, they've been living with their mother. Before the divorce, their mother was at home all the time. Even Anna and Robert would admit they didn't help much with the housework. Now their mother works during the day and sometimes in the evening. There's nothing she dislikes more than coming home to a messy living room and a kitchen piled with dirty dishes. And there's nothing Anna and Robert dislike more than doing housework. "She's always after us," Anna told me. Her brother agreed. "The way she goes on," he said, "you'd think that all we're supposed to do is work, work, work! We don't mind if the house is a little messy. It's our house, too." Who do you think is right? The kids, who don't like to clean the house? Or the mother, who doesn't want to come home to a mess? How do you think the family could solve this problem?

Telephone Rules Who gets to use the telephone can be a problem in some homes, but here's one family that handles it well. Carl and I were busy talking in their living room when his 12-year-old daughter came in. "Dad, I've got to make a telephone call. This one will take a while. Do you have any important calls coming in?" After her father had said OK, she thanked him and disappeared. I thought that was something special, so I said, "That worked out well." Carl answered, "Thanks, but actually it's all part of our deal. The telephone used to bother us. So we talked about it and decided on a few rules. Everyone had a say. One thing we agreed was that we'd check with each other before making a long call."

Which of these rules would you like to use in your family straight away? Some of them may need to be adapted to fit your family's way of doing things, but the principles behind the rules— listening, being respectful, and caring about others— are sure to be helpful. It's never too late to start. Choosing to get along better with your family is one of the most important decisions you'll ever make. Good luck!