(The Nationalist, 1 September 2000)
Here are ten ways to improve family life:
- Use opportunities to celebrate special events. Develop family traditions; they give a sense of stability in a fast-changing world.
- Eat together on a regular basis. Family meals can nourish not just bodies, but minds and hearts. They build relationships. They civilize the selfish, grabbing brute in us.
- Enjoy each other’s company. Do things together, especially things that are active such as a walk, rather than passive such as watching TV.
- Share the housework. This develops an attitude of helpfulness, pride in the home, a recognition of others’ work and a sense of responsibility.
- Share in groups and activities in the local community. This gives an awareness of the wider world. Think globally, act locally.
- Keep the generations connected. Share family photos or videos. Link grandparents and their grandchildren.
- Forgive and be ready to accept forgiveness. Giving and forgiving go together.
- Show interest in one another’s hopes, dreams or ideals. Be generous with praise, sparing with criticism. Watch the doughnut not the hole.
- Husbands and wives – spend time together and learn how to communicate with each other.
- Pray together: the family that prays together stays together.
(Keeping the Family Together: adapted, with thanks, from Richard McCord of the US Bishops’ Secretariat for the Family.)