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Give your children the gift of healthy relationships and intimacy.
By Dr. Darleen Claire Wodzenski — Written on Apr 18, 2019
Happy relationships make life joyful, while bad or abusive relationships cause heartache. But parents can use the power of family time to help children learn how to pick and keep great relationships for a lifetime.
Families are the cornerstone of society. Family introduces children to love, life, language and community. What I like to call "focused family time" is a powerful parenting technique that offers families a chance to help children develop great relationship skills.
Here are five reasons why happy children love focused family time. And aside from genuinely enjoying spending time with family, it will benefit your children in a whole new way, preparing them for life in the process.
1. Children are like sponges.
They soak up everything they see their parents do. Focused family time allows parents to provide rich social interactions that introduce children to a culture of respect, integrity and positive relationships.
2. Research shows that infants detect social conflict starting at 9 months.
It's important that parents begin to establish excellent co-parenting skills early on so babies grow up in a health family environment. This exposes children to healthy family life right from the start.
3. Parents can gently guide children's interactions and influence positive relationships.
As parents develop their role as family leaders, focused family time becomes a virtual social switchboard that helps parents to evaluate, direct and promote the healthy social development of the entire family.
4. Establishing and maintaining positive family relationships is an art form.
When friends and classmates taunt, bully and betray children, parents feel the pain too. Focused family time allows parents to discuss relationship challenges with their children. This helps children gain deeper insight that will lead to improved relationship skills later on in life.
5. Parents are role models for high-quality social and family interaction.
Parents who create focused family time expose their children to high-quality and ethical child-rearing practices that stimulate children's social and emotional development and positive relationships.
Focused family time is a natural antidote to child behavior problems, sibling rivalry, and challenges of both blended families and non-traditional families. This rich and effective parenting strategy is powerful enough to resolve family conflicts, ease family challenges, and transform family systems.
Schedule this time during family dinner, long walks in the country, or family chore time. Families are powerful systems that stimulate healthy learning, growth and development of social skills, and positive relationships.
Darleen Claire is a Personal Development Coach and Parenting Expert with specialization in Parent and Teacher Education, Clinical Mental Health Counseling, and Exceptional Student Education. She writes, lectures, and trains on effective relationships, healthy families, and great ways to solve behavior problems of children.
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