How to Create Joyful and Happy Families 

Many families today are feeling the stress of modern day living. Children are much more likely than not to grow up in a household in which their parents work, and in nearly half of all two-parent families today, both parents work full time. 

What hasn’t changed: the difficulty of balancing it all. Working parents say they feel stressed, tired, rushed and short on quality time with their children. This may lead to everyone feeling a little unhappy at times. I know that it’s natural to feel unhappy sometimes but this unhappiness can become overwhelming for many. 

Here’s some questions I found on healthychildren.org, to ask yourself when thinking about how to bring more happiness into your family:

• Is there enough humor and fun within your family, despite the very real demands of daily life? 
• Are the family’s expectations of each person reasonable, realistic, mutually agreed upon and generally fulfilled?
• Do family members achieve most of their individual goals, and are their personal needs being met?
• Do parents and children have genuine respect for one another, demonstrating love, caring, trust, and concern, even when there are disagreements?
• Is your family able to mature and change without everyone getting upset or unhappy?

Some great questions, don’t you think? Also do you treat every family member as an individual that has their own individual needs. Not everyone will think and act like you. For example, the four DISC styles have different needs: the D’s like to be in control of tasks, the I’s like socializing, the S’s like a steady pace to their environment and the C’s like to get things right all the time. Here’s my Free DISC Summary Report if you’d like to find out what Style you are. 

Bringing More Joy into the Family

Joyfulness is being filled with happiness. It is a peaceful sense of wellbeing. Joy is inside us all. Without inner joy, all our feelings are determined by what is happening to us. If things are going well we feel glad, when they aren’t we can feel sad. Without joyfulness when the fun stops our happiness stops. Find ways to have fun with your family. By this I mean with all the family. Whether it’s a family picnic out on the weekend, or just doing something small that everyone enjoys doing at home – enjoying everyone’s favorite dessert or watching a movie together.  Here’s some more great questions sourced from The Virtues Project Educator’s Guide by Linda Kavelin Popov. You can ask yourself and the other members of your family these to find out what brings joy for each one of you:

• What gives you joy? 
• Name three activities you enjoy.
• What cheers you up when you feel down?
• Share a funny thing that happened to you.
• Share one of the most enjoyable times you ever spent with your family.
• If you had a whole day in front of you, what would be the most enjoyable way to spend it?

I would love to hear how you get on after you find out your answers, so please leave a comment. Also for those parents that would like to join my parenting Facebook group you can go here Parent with Teens, Tween and Anything In between. Please share with others if you have found this post helpful. Together we can create a more joyful world.