Last weekend I made up my mind and put a mental foot down—I wanted a better family life! For me, I knew that began with us doing more together. I decided to start small, “Come on, guys, we’re going to play four hands of Apples to Apples,” I said one weekend evening.
“Oh, Mom,” said my almost-teen, “do we have to?” I lightheartedly told her yes and we started the game. We had a blast. It wasn’t a big time commitment, but it accomplished a step toward my goal of doing more together.
What would you like to change for a better family life? Don’t let the enormity of your goal overwhelm you. Here are 5 small ways to get a better family life.
Identify the change.
So what do you want to change about your family? Do you want to spend more time together? Do you want to focus more on fun? Do you want your kids to watch less TV? Decide and move on to step two from there.
Start small.
In my case, I wanted my family to spend more time together having fun. Instead of planning an all day activity, I went after a little chunk of time on a Friday night. From there, I started grabbing pockets of time wherever I could find them.
Take charge.
Nothing will change if you don’t make it happen. Don’t let other family members talk you out of it: “That’s boring!” “I don’t want to go to church!” You get the idea. If you want to develop your family in certain areas, take the reins.
Team build.
Be careful. Just because you’re taking charge doesn’t mean you want to force everyone to go along. Try to build consensus. Listen to their views if they want to express them.
Be consistent.
If you want a better family life for the long term, incorporate your little changes into your family’s routine.
The most effective families fashion their own future. Instead of letting other circumstances or people determine their destiny, effective families plan and create their own positive results. The method to accomplish this is to create a family mission statement.
What do you do when you want to make a change in your family?
