11 WAYS TO MAKE YOUR FAMILY HEALTHIER
If there were a happy pill on the market, you would
probably take it. While there is no such pill exactly, there are several
things you can do to foster the equivalent of more happiness in your life.
Personal happiness is directly affected by whatever goes on in family life.
Here are suggestions for ways to make your family healthier and you happier:
1. A healthy family must have open, honest, and respectful
communication among each of its
members. Feelings should be welcome and thoughts encouraged. Communication
should be direct, honest, and congruent.
2. Quality time should be made daily between members, to communicate and/or do something together (at least 15 to 20 minutes between each dyad).
3. Problems should be solved on an ongoing basis, instead of hard feelings harbored or problems denied.
4. Roles/duties for each member should be clearly defined; the goal should be organization and stability, not chaos.
5. A clear hierarchy exists between the parents and children wherein the children obey their parents’ instructions, yet are listened to and empathized with.
6. Love and nurturance are expressed openly and extravagantly in appropriate ways.
7. Family members can disagree and be different from each other and yet work toward a compromise when need be.
8. Each person is of equal importance in the family.
9. Parents are self-disciplined and are good role models.
10. The family members frequently have fun together, daily.
11. Children grow up to eventually leave home and develop independent lives of their own.