I've often written about the good advice I got from a colleague years ago. She told me about the family meetings her family had regularly and suggested I do the same. I took her advice and that made a significant positive impact on our family life. The meetings were simple. We met on a Sunday night and talked about the week ahead. Everyone shared what was important about their week, and then we discussed how we could support one another with our schedules, time, and energy. This greatly reduced the struggles we were having with regard to schedules, transportation, and support, and these meetings helped us to create a stronger family team.
When we take a team approach to family life, we have the potential to build a stronger family at present and for the future too. Regular family meetings help families to keep up with the changes that occur over time too.
In addition to meetings, family protocols can help families stay strong as well. These protocols support a strong family:
- Talk to one another, not about one another
- When situations are tough, meet to discuss what's going on and how you can work together to mitigate the challenge
- Acknowledge each other's strengths and shortcomings, and use that knowledge when working together for the best possible efforts
- Do what you can to help each other when times are tough
- Do what you can to get along with positive actions and words
- A strong family doesn't require 24-7 connections and closeness, and there's a right level of closeness for every member. This will vary due to factors such as geography, interest, work, relationships and more.
- Collaborate rather than compete
- Use positive language and curiosity when learning about and discussing each other