Family is important. It takes commitment and hard work to improve family relationships. With all the negative influences around us, we struggle to keep our families together. But it is a battle well worth it.
Family should come first and foremost before anything else, even before our career. “No other success can make up for failure at home. The poorest hut in which love prevails over a united family is of greater value to God and future humanity than any other wealth.” -David O. McKay
I believe that love, communication and respect go a long way. I know five rules that can improve relationships and make a family more united.
1. Parents and children should “show” love by helping each other. Giving service and sharing is what it’s all about.
2. Take time for each other by going out with your spouse or having family outings. It’s amazing what a picnic can do for a family.
3. Communicate with each other and take time to listen. Richard L. Evans said, “If we could only feel that we have been heard! If only we could listen when we should!”
4. Show respect to each family member. Never ask for another person.
5. Pray together. Abraham Lincoln said, “I remember my mother’s prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life.”
Money, wealth and great careers should not come before family. Money won’t buy love or happiness for your family. Eugene Hansen said: “I learned that money and material possessions are not the key to happiness and success. Even with constant financial challenge, we still had a good life. There was love at home. Home was the place where we wanted to be”. . We had two very significant elements: we had a piano and we had a bookcase. How important those two rather simple possessions were in the development of talents and productive interests so important in our early years.”
What our children need is love. Material objects will never replace affection or our absence. “We have been so eager to give our children what we did not have that we have refused to give them what we did have.” -Unknown author.
The relationship between husband and wife is also important. It should not be overlooked. Marriage is a sacred bond between man and woman. We must always work on our relationship. Never intentionally shame or hurt our spouse’s feelings. Build the self-esteem of the other. Treat your partner with respect. Children watch, listen, imitate and follow our steps. They learn fast. When we show disrespect to our partner, they will too.
We have to work on the marriage. It is a lifetime commitment. Mary Stewart Cutting said, “A woman can take anything except being forgotten, not needed.”
Richard L. Evans said, “All things need to be watched over, worked on, cared for, and marriage is no exception. Marriage is not something to be treated with indifference or abused, or something that just takes care of itself. All things they need attention, care.” and worry, and especially in the most sensitive of all relationships in life”.
Everyone has to work on family relationships. Is not easy. It’s something that needs a lot of work, but it’s worth it. Thomas Jefferson said: “The happiest moments of my life have been the few that I have spent at home, in the bosom of my family.”