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What Are the Best Tips for a Happy Family Life?

Daniel Liden
Daniel Liden

Achieving a happy family life involves creating conditions that several different people, often with drastically different personalities and lifestyles, can live with happily. In some cases, simple activities such as taking time to eat together and to occasionally have family outings are sufficient to bring about a happy family life. In other cases, particularly during hardship or conflict, it is necessary for family members to communicate with each other about their problems, even when they do not particularly want to speak with each other. Though it can be difficult to develop a happy family life, it can also be very rewarding and is generally considered worth the effort.

One essential aspect of creating a happy family life is respect. If any member of a family, including young children, feels that the others do not respect him, it will be much more difficult for him to attain any level of happiness in the family. It is important, therefore, for each member of a family to take the successes, problems, dreams, and preferences of the other family members seriously. While parental authority is often necessary to discourage bad or dangerous activities, it is also necessary for parents to at least respect if not encourage the individual desires and interests of children.

When a family spends time together, it increases the emotional stability of its members.
When a family spends time together, it increases the emotional stability of its members.

While mutual respect may ensure that family members can coexist peacefully most of the time, some degree of togetherness and cohesion are necessary to truly bring about a happy family life. Spending some time together as a family can give family members a chance to keep up on the events of the lives of the others. Eating dinner together a few times each week, for instance, is a great way to encourage a happy family life. Dinner provides an excellent time for family members to spend time together, talk, and swap stories. Other family outings, such as picnics, walks in the parks, visits to museums, or trips to shows can also encourage family harmony.

Communication is essential to a happy family life.
Communication is essential to a happy family life.

Even in generally-harmonious families, fights and disagreements occur from time to time. Different family members have different thoughts, desires, and preferences, and these can clash once in a while. Communicating through these issues is essential for maintaining a happy family life. Family members who talk to each other about their issues can often come to understand each other's positions and come to some agreement or compromise. During particularly bad fights or disagreements, it may be good to seek some kind of family counseling to expedite the process of attaining a happy family life once more.

Discussion Comments

umbra21

@Ana1234 - The difficulty with that is that many people don't know what it really takes to make themselves happy, or they are already in family circumstances that will make it impossible. I don't advocate anyone abandoning their kids, for example, even if that is what it takes for them to be true to themselves.

Once you've got a family you've just got to learn how to live with them and care for them and that's all there is to it, even if you aren't naturally inclined towards that. If you wanted an ideal life you should have avoided having a family, but once you've got responsibilities you have to live up to them.

Ana1234

@irontoenail - That's one of the things that I've always thought was missing from a lot of contemporary cultural messages. You see a lot of stories where the happy family takes precedence and people learn to love each other. But you rarely see stories with the message that people need to learn how to be whole in and of themselves and happy without a partner before they can be part of a healthy family.

irontoenail

My mother always said that her most important meaning in life was to do anything for her children, including making any sacrifice from her own happiness to do what was best for us.

In a way I completely agree with her, but in another I think she was wrong. I always knew she was unhappy when I was a child and that made me unhappy as well. As a role model, she didn't teach me how to find my own fulfillment so much as to try and help others to find theirs.

She was a wonderful mother, of course, but I wish she had done more for herself. I think a happy family life depends just as much on the individuals taking care of themselves as it does them taking care of each other.

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    • When a family spends time together, it increases the emotional stability of its members.
      By: pressmaster
      When a family spends time together, it increases the emotional stability of its members.
    • Communication is essential to a happy family life.
      By: Tatyana Gladskih
      Communication is essential to a happy family life.
    • Family outings encourage family members to spend time together and enjoy each other's company.
      By: Halfpoint
      Family outings encourage family members to spend time together and enjoy each other's company.
    • Families should go on trips together, such as camping, to create a happier family life.
      By: micromonkey
      Families should go on trips together, such as camping, to create a happier family life.
    • Having a movie night is a simple way families can improve their happiness.
      By: .shock
      Having a movie night is a simple way families can improve their happiness.
    • Spending time outdoors at events such as a baseball game can improve family life.
      By: steven hendricks
      Spending time outdoors at events such as a baseball game can improve family life.
    • Research shows that people tend to eat more vegetables and healthy foods at family-centered dinners.
      By: Kurhan
      Research shows that people tend to eat more vegetables and healthy foods at family-centered dinners.
    • Family outings like picnics can be a sign of a happy family life.
      By: Viktoriya Nam
      Family outings like picnics can be a sign of a happy family life.
    • A day at the beach can increase a family's happiness.
      By: JackF
      A day at the beach can increase a family's happiness.
    • Indoor activities that families can enjoy include playing video games.
      By: WavebreakMediaMicro
      Indoor activities that families can enjoy include playing video games.
    • Even in otherwise harmonious families, fights do occur from time to time.
      By: EJ White
      Even in otherwise harmonious families, fights do occur from time to time.
    • Spending time together on a picnic can help strengthen families.
      By: micromonkey
      Spending time together on a picnic can help strengthen families.