vocabulary Strong Families

Commitment- Choose to put your family first. It is an investment of time, energy, spirit, and heart. Be aware of the demands of outside interests and work that distract from family time.

Time together Healthy families spend a lot of time together playing, working, eating meals, or talking. Quality and Quantity are both important.

Instead of complaining about busy schedules, healthy families Make spending time together a priority!!

appreciation Feeling worthwhile and valuable is one of the most basic human needs. Healthy families express positive feelings for each other and give each other emotional support. When words of praise and encouragement replace fault-finding and belittling, family members gain trust and confidence.

communication Good communication helps create a sense of belonging in a family and increases understanding and empathy. This is not something that just happens, good communication takes effort and practice. Use “I” messages to let other in your family know what you think or how you feel without insulting or criticizing the other person.

Decision making and responsibility Healthy families cooperate with each other in making decisions. Parents maintain authority in the family but are flexible. All members share household responsibilities. Everyone pitches in to help each other.

When families work together, kids feel more ownership in the family and more pride in their abilities

Problem solving No family is without problems. Healthy families have the ability to manage challenges when they arise. They learn to have confidence in their ability to meet problems and solve them. They believe in the future and in their ability to be successful as a family.

Values and spiritual wellness Healthy families have strong moral base in values and spiritual beliefs. They have shared goals and ideals about what is important. They have a caring center within that promotes sharing, love, and compassion for others which they practice in everyday life.

What can you do to help strengthen your family?????

Strategies for strengthening families 1. Spend quality time alone with each child (ask your parent to do something with you, no interruptions, spend time laughing and talking) 2. Respond to family members with patience and respect their feelings and abilities. 3. Encourage family members by asking them to share their accomplishments 4. Eat a meal together as a family at least once a day and help each other make the food and clean it up. (tell your parents this is a homework assignment so they will help make it happen) 5. Hold family meetings that give all family members an opportunity to talk (plan schedules for the week and support other family members) 6. Develop a family Mission Statement and/or Motto- purpose, goals, and objectives 7. Develop and maintain family traditions and rituals (sibling traditions are fun too) 8. Avoid holding grudges, accept responsibility for your mistakes, do something helpful w/o being asked (more than once), be aware of your body language and tone of voice. 9. Write notes to family members- encourage, show gratitude, apologize, share a thought/joke

Happy families don’t just happen… they are built one block at a time All families have strengths and weaknesses. Individual family members play a significant role in determining how well a family functions. Strengthening family relationships requires the commitment and cooperation of all family members. We need to work together!

You may not be able to control your current family but you can choose right now what kind of a family you will have … Learn better communication skills, believe in yourself, be the kind of person you want to marry, gather parenting skills along the way… keep learning, always improving