Building Your Family Team

One way to share values with your children is to have family team meetings. This can be a great setting for:

* Dreaming of what you want for the future
* Planning ways to make those dreams a reality
* Setting goals individually and for the family as a whole

Family team meetings are a place where parents and kids can support each other during hard times. That’s why regular family meetings can build stronger bonds within the family.

Another team that needs to meet regularly is the “parent team.” Setting a daily meeting time for Mom and Dad to discuss their hot topics is important. Teaching the children to respect this 10-15 minute time for parents to discuss and share with each other is important. Remind the kids that this is non-interruptible time! You may want to give this parent team meeting a name like “couch time” or “daily review”.

Why meet ?

Teach values.

• Fairness and respect For example, if parents show fairness and respect at the meetings, kids will come to know that these are values of the family.
• Value of work If parents show each child that his or her work is important to the team, that child will begin to feel valued as a family team member.
• Importance of faith Add a time for prayer. Plan in a game that teaches or reviews spiritual truths. Play or sing music that teaches values.

Plan special events.

• Vacation, Special night out Families have meetings to plan and work on special shared activities like vacations or special events.
• Birthdays  Planning a birthday party for someone within the family or a special friend can be fun.

Discuss decisions.

• Parent-made decisions While certain decisions are not made at family meetings, sometimes discussing the reason for these decisions at a family team meeting helps children to understand what is happening and how they will be affected.

How to get started
With many different schedules, finding a time when all can get together is the biggest hurdle. Family team meetings are best when they are informal. Work in discussion topics during meals or after meal times. It is important to include the whole family as often as possible. Some families hold extra team meetings during times of difficulty or crisis. Happy news is also shared at family meetings.

For more information, read Family Team Meetings

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