Family enrichment

What is the quality of your family life?

Do you have occasional tensions in your family? Does your family experience tension?

Are there things about other members of your family that irritate you?

Is sitting down together for a meal almost impossible?

 

Are you tired of reading books that don't help YOU?

 

Anyone can be a member of a family!

But, loving families that we really enjoy being part of don't just happen.

Relationships are the living links that join family members together...

or tear them apart.

What's your family like?
Someone has got to be able to get this family together and talk.

Does it feel good to be a member of your family?

Do you feel like you're living with friends, people you like and trust, and who like and trust you?

Is it fun to be a member of your family?

If you answered 'yes' to the above questions, you probably live in a nurturing family, but if you answered 'no' or 'not often,' you probably live in a family that is more or less troubled, or dysfunctional. That doesn't mean that it's a bad family, it just means that people are either not very happy or not as happy as they could be, and they have not learned the right ways to love and value one another openly .

It used to be that the only family form given first-rate status was the nuclear family, one in which a man and a woman raised their children together with until death. But, as a result of a very high rate of divorce and cohabiting, we have more and more blended families that are in a shifting and sorting state... so, the challenge of today is to make every family and every person in the family feel first-rate. There are thousands of happy, well-adjusted persons in all family forms. There are also thousands of persons living in families that do not work. The difference is not in the form, but in the relationships within the family.

Whatever shape or form your family is... the relationships that succeed can be described simply. Withing the healthy family, the parents work together as a team, are open with each other, demonstrate their presence as individuals, and show their respect and esteem for each other. They treat each other as unique, are aware of and build on their sameness, and grow and learn from their differences. They model the behaviors and values they wish to teach their children, and do not relate to each other through force or dictatorship as many authoritarian parents used to. Conflict resolution (dealing with differences and differentness) becomes a vehicle by which new growth occurs, not a house divided by dominance and submission.

Family life, in one respect, is like an iceberg: most people are only aware of about one tenth of what is going on - the tenth they can see and hear. With the Satir family therapy model (that I work with) deals with what goes on ... under the table, beneath everyday family events. The main aspects of family life dealt with in are self-worth, communication, rules, and the way the family relates to other people or outsiders. Another analogy I use for family life is a wind-chime because each move or change from one part affects the others.

Divorce is not the only issue that affects families. although it certainly does affect a lot of families nowadays, and it is not going away.

Disability affects many families as well. Here is a video of love and devotion from a father to his son that will surely bring tears to your eyes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTHvTSBhl5s

Other issues?

Don’t just cope or survive…
Create the family relationships and family life you really want!

The family can be the place where one finds love, understanding, and support... but for many, many people from troubled families, this is just a dream.

Living in a troubled family is never a choice.

Families accept it only because they know of no other way.

There is no need for any member of your family to feel lost,
isolated, alone, unaccepted, misunderstood, angry or frustrated!

Let me help you create a nurturing, healthy, alive family.