There are several common features of healthy, happy families that include cohesiveness, open communication, parents leading by example, conflict management, and setting clear expectations and limits.
Strong families help children feel safe and secure. Strong families have warmth and care, good communication, predictability, and strong connections to others outside the family. Looking after yourself is good for your family and good for you.
Doesn't have abuse and neglect: Parents provide care for their children, and children aren't expected to take on adult responsibilities. Every member of the family feels safe, and the home is free from violence (both physical and psychological).
There are several common features of healthy, happy families that include cohesiveness, open communication, parents leading by example, conflict management, and setting clear expectations and limits.
Still, there are several characteristics that are generally identified with a well-functioning family. Some include: support; love and caring for other family members; providing security and a sense of belonging; open communication; making each person within the family feel important, valued, respected and esteemed.
The nuclear family is the traditional type of family structure you might think of. This family type consists of two parents and at least one child. Society has long held the traditional nuclear family in high esteem as being the 'ideal' in which to raise children.
Warmth, care and positive attention in strong families
Being warm, caring and affectionate with your child and spouse, helps to build good family relationships. Children from warm, caring and affectionate families get along better with other children and teachers, and are less likely to bully others.
In a nutshell, positive parents support a child's healthy growth and inner spirit by being loving, supportive, firm, consistent, and involved. Such parents go beyond communicating their expectations, but practice what they preach by being positive role models for their children to emulate.
“Families with clear roles who spend time together, communicate well, adapt to stressors, appreciate and encourage one another, and are connected to their communities and to something greater than themselves are successful — and they're setting future generations up for success as well,” Tibbitts said.
Family quality of life is concerned with the degree to which individuals experience their own quality of life within the family context, as well as with how the family as a whole has opportunities to pursue its important possibilities and achieve its goals in the community and the society of which it is a part.
It is important for a family to be there for each other through the hard times, as well as the good times. If there is a family tragedy, or a family member has a problem, pulling together can really help. Your children will need your help at this time, and it is important to be open and communicate with them.
Features to look for in a family home:
A main living space, ideally within view of the kitchen. A second living space for kids to play. Backyard within view of living spaces. Additional storage space, such as a shed or attic.
The most important trait in strong, happy families is commitment. Commitment to the team—putting the family first—and commitment to each individual on the family in helping him or her become everything he or she can.… With commitment comes the desire to help family members reach their potential.
Creating a Caring Team
Growing strong families is about creating a team, a group of people who function together. A group of people who need each other, appreciate each other and are willing to sacrifice for each other.
Establish traditions, values, and goals together.
If you have already developed some family traditions, do your best to continue what you started. Sit down to discuss and reinforce values, invent new traditions, and plan how you will accomplish goals together.
After emphasizing the universal character of the family, the anthropologist George Murdock (1949) argued that the family has four basic social functions: sexual regulations, reproduction, economic cooperation and socialization/education.
Most researchers now agree that together these studies support the notion that, on average, children do best when raised by their two married, biological1 parents who have low-conflict relationships. This research has been cited as justification for recent public policy initiatives to promote and strengthen marriages.
Family Talents
Just like any trait, talents can also define a family. Perhaps your uncle was a champion boxer. Maybe your grandmother was a concert pianist. These talents can be the start of many wonderful stories, and they are part of what makes your family different.
The basic functions of the family are to: (1) regulate sexual access and activity; (2) provide an orderly context for procreation; (3) nurture and socialize children; (4) ensure economic stability; and (5) ascribe social status. Families further impart affection, care, and adaptive functions.
Identify four skills that families need to stay healthy. Caring and commitment, respect and appreciation, empathy, communication, and cooperation.