How to Have a Close Relationship With Your Family
Having strong family ties is one of most important and widely-held values in society. It is a value that crosses over cultural boundaries, economic classes and every other facet of life. In recent decades, however, the United States is seeing a breakdown in traditional family values. The workday is getting longer and more emphasis is being placed on financial, rather than familial, security. More technological distractions exist that hinder communication for both children and adults. Fortunately, it is still very possible and quite simple to have a close relationship with your family today.
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Instructions
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Plan family outings that fit your time constraints and budget. You don't need to plan an extravagant trip to Disney World or a tropical vacation. Check out local zoo prices; most zoos have family deals on specific days. While going to the movies is fun sometimes, try to do things that encourage you to communicate with each other. Camping trips are a wonderful and economical way to spend quality time together because you're usually away from day-to-day distractions. On an especially tight budget, a day trip to a nearby lake or park serves the same purpose. Bring sandwiches and a Frisbee. The key is to spend quality time together. It seems obvious, yet the phrase "quality time" is frequently mistaken as "time spent sitting in front of a television together." This is not quality time. If possible, keep your cellular phone silenced during these outings. Try not to let work-related issues intrude on your family time.
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Try to have at least one meal a day where everyone is at the table. This can be difficult, particularly if you have a large family with conflicting schedules. If this is the case, see if schedule adjustments can be made to keep one evening hour designated for family time. While at the table, people tend to keep their heads down without speaking. Modern society is beginning to view mealtime as a 15-minute timeframe to quickly shovel food down your throat so you can get back to whatever it was you were doing. Not only has this adversely affected the health of Americans, but it has diminished the amount of time spent with family. Instead, ask your family members to discuss their days. Did anything interesting happen?
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Call and visit family members who do not live in the same home as you. In the past decade, social networking websites, texting and other digital methods of communication have both helped and hindered close interpersonal relationships. They can certainly help people reconnect and stay in touch, but rather than being used as a supplement to communication, people tend to use them as their sole method of keeping in touch with others. Nick Stamoulis discusses this phenomenon on the Marketing Pilgrim website, stating that social networking sites are especially hindering communication between different age groups since older generations do still prefer the traditional methods of communicating. Instead of texting family members or writing them an email, dial their phone number. Talking is an easier, more efficient and far more personal way to communicate.
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