Good Family Relationships

Good family relationships are enjoyable for their own sake – it just feels good to be part of a warm and loving family, also good family relationships are important for lots of other reasons too. They:

• make kids feel loved and secure, which helps their brains develop
• can help to overcome difficulties with kids sleeping, eating, learning and behavior
• make it easier for your family to resolve conflict and solve a problem
• help you and your kid’s respect differences of opinion as your kids develop more independence
• give kids the skills they need to build healthy relationships of their own.

This is a reason why it’s always worth looking and thinking about how you can improve the relationships you share with your kids and other family members.

You’re doing the best you can for your kids, probably while you’re juggling work, household management, friends and more. But there are plenty of easy things you can do to develop good family relationships, even for the busiest of parents.

Quality family time can happen anywhere. Here are some ways you can make quality time happen in your family:

• Use everyday time together to talk and share a laugh.
• To strengthen individual relationships, have one-on-one chats with each family member.
• Set aside time with your partner, it’s good for your relationship with your partner to have this quality time together.
• As a family does regular, fun things together like a family soccer game at the local park on
• Saturdays, or a family board games night each week.
• For special events like birthdays make decisions together about what to do, even young children can be part of these decisions.

When your family is working as a team, everyone is able to contribute and feels supported. It’s easier to work as a team when everyone understands where they stand, so it helps to have clear limits, expectations, and boundaries. You can encourage teamwork in some of these ways:

• Share household chores. An even very young kid like the feeling of belonging that comes from making a contribution, sometimes, at least!
• Include kids in decisions about things like family holidays, activities and rules. Give everyone including young children a chance to have their say.
• Let kids make some of their own decisions. The decisions you allow will depend on your children’s maturity and abilities, and the boundaries you’ve set.
• Create family rules that state clearly how your family wants to look after. Rules like this make family life more peaceful and help everyone get along better.
• Work together as a family to solve problems. This involves considering options, respecting other people’s opinions, listening and thinking calmly, finding constructive solutions, and working towards compromises.

Good family relationships are an important part of strong families. You can build good relationships in your family with quality time, communication, teamwork, and appreciation.