Family Fun and Bonding

If the Doe's are having family fun, it would be a good indication that the entire family is bonding together.

Dad and mom of course love their kids and are in hourly communication with them. If there is a squabble among the siblings, mom or dad intervene to find the basic cause of the upset. As you know, kids do not always share the same viewpoint and why should they? And so disagreements come up regularly.

A great system in the Doe family is to have all the kids together and only permitting one child to speak while the others remain silent. Each child has a turn at speaking their opinion while mom and dad record an outline of the conversation.

Before they start, each is asked to speak honestly and not to blame their siblings or point a finger in any way. Handling it this way gets to the basic upset quickly and who was responsible. "Okay Joe, you started this by not wanting to share your game with Else, right?" Joe knows he will not be punished and mom will validate him for his openness. Mom then asks "Why didn't you want to share, what is your reason?"

Joe replies "I guess I felt a bit selfish which was wrong of me, sis can use this game any time she likes!" Mom says thank you and asks the whole family to thank Joe. Joe beams and know his family is behind him and he has learnt a lesson in sharing things with his family.

Mom then changes the subject and then asks "Okay kids, lets have some fun, what would you all like to do together?"

In a chorus they all yell "Go to the beach!"


For more family bonding go to this kid-friendly site for fun things to do, funny things to watch with light entertainment.