There are a lot of different things to focus on as the head of a household. You have to pay attention to budgets. You have to pay attention to schedules. You have to pay attention to academic success if you have children in school. But sometimes it gets lost in the shuffle that you also have to focus on family bonding occasionally. You can’t get so caught up in the administrative aspect of being a parent that you forget that affectionate family bonds are necessary.
And you can look at bonding as a form of team building. You can choose to go to family counseling. You can create device-free time where every member of your family has to put down their phones and tablets. You can use your role as a parent to breakthrough generational stress as well.
Bonding as Team Building
Have you ever seen advertisements for company team building? It looks like a lot of very different types of people are having fun figuring out how to overcome challenges together to make it to the desired goal. Why not try the same kind of activities for your family? It might seem a little silly at first, but by following the concepts of corporate team-building, you can have an excellent bonding experience with your family.
Going To Family Counseling
Going to family counseling isn’t just about going when your family is all stressed out either. Even when you have a good relationship with all of your family members, it’s not a bad idea to go to a professional and have everyone talk through how they feel about things. You’ll be amazed that family members are more forthcoming under the guided conversation and narrative structure of a counselor. It can be a great way to bring up topics that wouldn’t otherwise come to the surface.
Creating Device-Free Time
Though mobile devices are great for connecting us to the outside world, they aren’t necessarily great for connecting us to the inside world of our families. If you create a device-free time, maybe around dinnertime for example, then your family is essentially forced to interact with each other, and that can be a good thing for everyone.
Breaking Generational Stress
There are always going to be differences between one generation and the next. One of the ways that you can focus on family bonding is to try to figure out what those differences are, between you and your parents or between you and your children for example, and then talk about them! You will bond with each other more closely by understanding what is different from each other. The speed of life is much different from one generation to the next. To break through that difference in pace, looking to bond through different ages is a positive experience.