Happiness in the Family: How to have the Happy Family of your Dreams

Searching for ‘happy family’ on Google often gives out results of people smiling and laughing happily, sharing meals with each other or engaged in an activity. This is a prime example of a family contented with life. You find yourself wondering, perhaps; what did they do to get to that scene in the pictures?

If you’re not like the people in the pictures—who might have had happy lives—here are a few pointers to ponder.

Have Dinners with your Family

Dinnertime gets an unfairly low appreciation as a time in the day when the family is complete. Remember this and make dinners an affair where everyone has to be on the table. That way, you might hear them tell stories of how their day went and share their happiness and sadness to you.

Genuinely Like Each Other

It’s not hard to like other people, especially your family members. One of a few reasons why we don’t tend to like each other is because of differences. If you learn to see past that, though, you’re on your way to really liking your family members and not just ‘liking’ them.

Tell Stories of your Day

It’s hard to do this, especially if you come home from a hard day’s work. However, the best way to become closer to your family is to know how their day went, and vice versa. This creates an atmosphere of trust and familiarity that leads to closeness to each other.

Tell Stories of your Family’s Achievements

Another way of instilling discipline and people to idolize is to tell stories of the family. Whether it’s your relatives or your wife’s, having knowledge of their forebears who did impressive things gives your children someone to aspire to.

Have Time for your Family

A family stays closer longer if they spend more time together. It’s not only about the bills, the big house, the gadgets, and the car. It’s more than that; if you invest time in your children, you see that they know they have parents they can count on, and will also invest time to become closer to you.

Parenting can be pretty simple, if you know what your priority is—family, that is. Learn to spend time with your children and your spouse, and you’ll see your children grow up to imitate the examples that you’ve laid down.