Family life plays a significant role in a child’s development. In fact, the home is where many children acquire either healthy or negative habits as they grow up. Therefore, it’s important to make an effort to use family situations to teach your children strong values that they can apply outside of the home. Here are some aspects of family life that can encourage positive behaviours in your children.
1. Family Meals
Taking the time to sit down for a regular family meal is a great way to instil healthy habits in your children. First of all, it teaches them about the importance of quality time with those close to them. Secondly, it helps them develop a positive and healthy relationship towards food. It’s important that your children learn how to have balanced meals and set eating well as a priority. In fact, everyone in the family will likely eat better if regular, healthy meals are prepared.
2. Scheduling Family Fun Time
While family meals are an excellent way to spend time together, ensuring that your family schedules fun time together is a great way to establish healthy habits in your kids. Generally speaking, this is a fantastic opportunity to strengthen family bonds and become closer knit. As a result, your children will feel more comfortable within the family, which helps to boost their sense of confidence and self esteem around others. In addition, having strong relationships will make it easier to handle conflict when it arises.
3. Healthy Conflict Resolution
Family life always has its ups and downs. Unfortunately, some of those “down” moments include conflict. The benefit of these conflicts taking place within family circles is that you have an opportunity to teach your children how to deal with conflicts in a healthy way. Take time to share and listen to various or opposing perspectives on the situation, encourage your children to indicate their needs using “I feel” statements and work towards a common solution. This will help them to establish healthy conflict resolution skills in other areas of their life.
4. Open Communication
Opening communication between family members is also very important to helping your children develop positive habits. It can be as simple as taking the opportunity to talk to your children about their day (and yours) while driving in the car or sharing “highlights and lowlights” around the dinner table. If, as a family, you’re willing to share about your day, your struggles and your successes, then it’s likely your children will be more willing to be open with others too.
5. Practicing Gratitude
Making gratitude a family habit can help your children carry this with them throughout their life. You can do this very simply, such as by sharing things that you’re thankful for around Thanksgiving or by sharing positive moments throughout your day with each other. This is beneficial for your children because it helps them be grateful for all that they have, stay positive and feel satisfaction in their life.
6. Cheering Each Other On
Part of growing up is about taking risks, finding out what you’re good at and learning who you are. When you take time as a family to support each other and be each others’ cheerleaders, this helps build your children’s confidence as they face challenges throughout their life. It also teaches them the importance of supporting others and the impact that kindness and positivity can have on those around them.
Feature Image: Takashi(aes256)
