How Our Parents Did It: Strengthening Family Bonds the Old Way

father and son

In this pandemic, we can do a lot of things to take our minds off the situation. Some people prefer to do something about the job they may have lost during the many lockdowns that happened. Others turned to remote jobs and, with the free time, decided to pay closer attention to their families at home.

Many young couples often give importance to exchanging gifts before and after the wedding. They even choose unique micro pave halo engagement rings for their partners. But you should ask yourself if you have what it takes to raise a family with them. Raising a family is a serious vocation, contrary to some beliefs, and it also requires the right stuff. You could take a look at your parents’ methods to raise you and your siblings for some ideas.

While there is a lot that goes into it, most methods that have stood the test of time are still true today. Curious to know what these are? Take a look.

Don’t Forget Family Time

One thing that’s been terribly overlooked during normal times has been family time. Many people have been pining for the return of the old way of doing things, and with the pandemic, they get a chance to try it out.

Family time can be any time when the family is together. It could be during mealtime, whether breakfast, lunch, or dinner. It could also be during family game night, whether you’re into board games or you want to play video games with your children.

Whatever time it may be, you must squeeze family time into your schedule. It shouldn’t be much of a problem if you’re working from home, but it could be a bit of a challenge if you’re commuting. That’s not an excuse to discard it altogether, though.

Eating Meals as a Family

At home, when work takes over, it’s easy to skip meals or shy away from eating together with family. This is just bad practice, according to studies.

Research has shown how family meals affect the positivity of people within the family. It has an exceptionally great effect on children’s mental and physical well-being, the studies revealed. It’s also one of the best ways to reinforce communication among family members, which can further create better bonds.

The next time you’re eating, try to make it a point to have all the family together. If that’s not possible, a quick meal such as breakfast or a light afternoon snack can stand as a substitute or an experiment into these supposed effects.

mother and child doing laundry

The Family that Cleans Together

Belief has always played a huge role in a family’s togetherness, but doing chores together is a great way to spend more time with family. Finishing these together is a great way of enforcing bonds with one another. You get to “work out” together as well.

If you all have a schedule that’s almost always full, then create a schedule or a “deadline” where all of you need to finish your chores. If you do this, you won’t have any room to complain that you don’t get anything finished on time.

Be Consistent About Discipline

Don’t you remember when you were afraid of breaking the rules because your parents told you not to?

This still applies even in this age of modern rearing. While you do need to respect your children, that doesn’t mean they should not respect you. Teach them to learn discipline when they’re young, and they’ll carry that when they grow up. That’s technically the same way you learned discipline from your parents, after all.

Teaching Through Failure or Losing

When you have a competitive child, every moment is a learning moment for them—and you. It’s nice to be a winner, but you have to let them experience failure or loss at times.

This is especially helpful if they think you’re always there to bail them out. It teaches them that winning may be important, but it’s not bad to lose once in a while. It also teaches them to finish their work as well and early as possible, or they risk facing a situation they do not want.

When they grow up, they will experience failures and lost causes. Experiencing these early on will steel them for what lies ahead.

Old-school bonds never disappear—they’re stronger and more developed. Teaching your family the traditional way of growing close to one another should be easy and not that hard to do. It would be best if you tried it out during the pandemic.

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