The Whole-Brain Child: Building Strong Family Connections
Strategy 11: Increase the Family Fun
Factor
This strategy emphasizes the importance of joy and playfulness in family
life. Here's how to implement it:
- Prioritize Fun: Make time for
enjoyable family activities, even when life gets busy.
- Be Spontaneous: Sometimes,
the most memorable moments are unplanned. Be open to impromptu dance
parties, pillow fights, or silly games.
- Create Rituals: Establish fun
family traditions, like weekly game nights or monthly adventure days.
- Get Everyone
Involved: Encourage all family members to contribute ideas for fun
activities.
- Embrace
Silliness: Don't be afraid to be goofy with your kids. Laugh together, tell
jokes, and create inside family jokes.
- Balance
Structure and Freedom: While it's good to plan fun
activities, also allow for unstructured time where fun can emerge
naturally.
Remember, the goal is to create positive shared experiences that
strengthen family bonds and create lasting memories.
Strategy 12: Connect Through Conflict
This final strategy teaches that conflicts, when handled well, can
actually strengthen relationships. Here's how to put it into practice:
- Stay Calm: Model
emotional regulation during conflicts. Take deep breaths and speak in a
calm voice.
- Listen Actively: Give each
person involved in the conflict a chance to express their feelings and
perspective without interruption.
- Validate
Feelings: Acknowledge everyone's emotions, even if you disagree with their
actions. "I can see you're really upset about this."
- Encourage
Empathy: Help family members consider each other's points of view.
"How do you think your sister feels when you take her toys without
asking?"
- Problem-Solve
Together: Involve everyone in finding solutions to conflicts. "What
ideas do you have to solve this problem?"
- Focus on Repair: After a
conflict, focus on rebuilding connections. This might involve apologies,
hugs, or doing something nice for each other.
- Reflect on Conflicts: Once emotions
have cooled, discuss what everyone learned from the conflict and how to
handle similar situations in the future.
Implementing these strategies:
- For Increasing
the Family Fun Factor, create a "Fun Ideas" jar where family
members can add suggestions for activities. Regularly pick ideas from the
jar to try.
- For Connecting
Through Conflict, establish family ground rules for handling
disagreements. Post these rules somewhere visible as a reminder during
heated moments.
These strategies work together to create a family environment where joy
is prioritized and challenges are seen as opportunities for growth and
connection.
Conclusion of the Series
Throughout this series, we've explored 12 strategies from "The
Whole-Brain Child" that can help parents and caregivers support children's
emotional and cognitive development:
- Connect and
Redirect
- Name It to Tame
It
- Engage, Don't
Enrage
- Use It or Lose
It
- Move It or Lose
It
- Use the Remote
of the Mind
- Remember to
Remember
- Let the Clouds
of Emotion Roll By
- SIFT:
Sensations, Images, Feelings, and Thoughts
- Exercise
Mindsight
- Increase the
Family Fun Factor
- Connect Through
Conflict
Each of these strategies offers unique tools for helping children
navigate their emotional world, develop strong cognitive skills, and build
meaningful relationships. Remember, implementing these strategies is a journey.
Be patient with yourself and your children as you practice these new
approaches.
By consistently applying these strategies, you're not just solving
day-to-day challenges – you're helping your children develop skills that will
serve them well throughout their lives. You're nurturing emotionally
intelligent, cognitively flexible, and relationally skilled individuals who are
well-equipped to face life's challenges.
Thank you for joining us on this journey through "The Whole-Brain
Child" strategies. We hope you find these tools helpful in your parenting
journey!
