Ready or not, the holidays are upon us! Hopefully this means you are excited and in the spirit rather than stressed out by this holiday season. It has worked out well that this last column on traits of healthy families will cover traits that show how important the holidays can be to your family wellness. This is the last installment in a series on the 15 traits of healthy families identified by family expert Dolores Curran. The three traits left to discuss are that healthy families have rituals and traditions, value service to others, and have a shared religious core. Continue
My Articles about Family
This is the third installment of a series exploring 15 traits of healthy families, identified by Dolores Curran as important to family success. This month’s column will look at traits six through eight, which state that healthy families; 6) are playful and have a sense of humor, 7) have a balance of interaction among family members, and 8) share leisure time. These three traits discuss important ways in which healthy families share and participate in each other’s lives. As I write these columns on the traits of healthy families, I am struck again with the truth of how important these traits are to healthy family functioning. I also realize how easy it is to neglect implementing these traits, especially the ones in this month’s column. Continue
Almost every magazine article, television or radio program you see talks about how busy the American family is these days, yet how important “Quality Time” is to the family. How the heck are you supposed to carve out quality time when there are so many demands on the family calendar? Some days get so hectic you may wonder if you have even spoken to your spouse or children that day. So, how much time is needed for it to be “Quality Time?” How about five minutes a day? What about just four minutes? Continue
The topic for this month’s issue of Parent Magazine, family entertainment, got me thinking about the good times I’ve had with my family. I also remember some times that were, well, a little more challenging! Successfully creating entertaining activities for the whole family can be quite an undertaking. If you are reading this, and you have participated in family activities, you can probably recall some great times and a few really, really bad experiences. Have you ever tried to get the whole family to watch a movie together and end up watching it by yourself? How about those times you pay to take the family somewhere, and the kids argue the whole time and you have a headache by the end of the day? I guess what I’m trying to convey is that family entertainment is a great idea, but easier said than done! Let me relate to you some personal experience with good and bad family entertainment. These will be used to illustrate an important point later in the column. Continue
