Emy asks: How can children help keep family ties closer?
Hi Emy –
You ask a very interesting question. I’m not sure if you are asking how children can keep their families more connected, or how they can stay more connected to their own families.
If it’s the first, it’s certainly something kids dream of doing a lot. The popular movie “The Parent Trap” (either version of it) is a very fun version of this fantasy, where two twin girls conspire to get their divorced parents to remarry. Of course the truth is that just by existing, children tend to increase the bonds of their families. Couples who might otherwise split up stay together because of the kids, and couples who don’t share a lot of other interests find that the interest that they share most is their children. Kids are never a guarantee that people will match up or stay together, but they often do work as a certain sort of glue.
(Having said that, I can tell you that I have often served as that with Handsome’s romances as well, but in the end, if one of them’s going to leave, I’m not enough to keep them together. But ironically, there have been a number of cases where Handsome’s exes will come by the house to see me, when he’s not there! Originally they were interested in him, but in the end, I just turned out to be better company!)
However, if you’re asking how children can stay better connected to their own families, I’d really put that on the families themselves. Until a child is about 12, they usually like to spend about as much time as they can around their families. If they’re not, it’s probably because the family isn’t going to enough trouble to be there for the kids. Sure it’s great for kids to learn manners and consideration and all, and make themselves more pleasant to be around. But it’s really the family’s job to keep the family together, around those kids. It’s the kids’ job to live and have fun and grow.
And there’s nothing more fun for a family to do than to experience and watch just that!
Thanks,
Shirelle