Creating A Strong Family Culture While Working

Hello again! Madelyn's preschool/daycare puts our email newsletters and I really like this one, so I thought I would share.....again! Enjoy!

Creating A Strong Family Culture While Working
Developing a family culture and growing healthy children is more than sharing information. It is about sharing feelings as well. In The Working Mother’s Guide to Life: Strategies, Secrets, and Solutions, Linda Mason emphasizes that family life flourishes with intimacy and honesty. By showing our children the breadth and depth of our emotions, we allow them to develop a broader range of emotional reactions as well. Sharing life stories, personal interests, and relaxed time with our children can help us appear real and accessible to them. Through this, we create a bond with our child that is based on intimacy and honesty.

Creating Intimacy In Your Home
Mason writes, “Young children love to be around other people, most particularly their parents, and they are drawn to cozy corners and nooks – intimate family spaces.” Consider the space of your own home and remember that bigger is not always better. To create an intimate setting, Mason suggests creating two small spaces for your young child: a writing area and a book area. This emphasizes the importance of reading and writing and gives your child his own space for these activities.

Writing area: can be a corner of your kitchen counter with a box of pencils, crayons, markers, paper, and envelopes so your child can draw and write whenever she wants.
Reading area: create an inviting book area with a basket or shelf of children’s books and a comfortable cushion or chair.

Television can work against maintaining a strong family culture, or create a diminished culture that misses out on lively interaction. Yes, television can be an educational and relaxing experience, and even create shared family experiences, but it is important to monitor what our children watch. Most anything else that involves physical activity, reading, or social interaction is a better choice. Ultimately, if your child is in a structured child care or school setting, some unstructured playtime at home, without resorting to the TV, would be much better.

However we choose to create a strong family culture – inventing unique family rituals, continuous verbal family bonding, or designing intimate family settings – the real values lie in the focused family time spent together. Such occasions will develop into cherished family moments for everyone.