Strong Families and Crises

In Chinese, crisis is written as danger+opportunity. With every struggle we have, there's an opportunity to succumb or overcome it.

There are so many possible stressors that a family can go through. Some occur everyday and others are bigger and more life-changing. We all have our ways of coping with difficult times, but it's what we do daily that helps make our families strong so that when those hard times do happen we can overcome it and come out stronger. 

So what do strong families do daily?

1. Have dinner together and have set daily routines. Spending quality time together helps a family to stay close to one another. Routines especially help children to have a constant thing to rely on. When something big and life changing happens, make sure to stick with the daily routines. This can help children to have a sense of normalcy even though life got turned upside down.
2. Accept each other (personalities, communication styles, etc.). If everyone feels loved and accepted, it makes it easier for people to cope with challenges. The home becomes a safe zone where everyone can be themselves and not have to worry about what others will think of them and accept their own coping strategies.
3. Have family councils. This pretty much means that every member of the family should be included in decisions and just talk to each other. Talking about each other's interests and what's going on each other's lives helps families to stay close and have a habit of talking to each other. This way when a crisis does happen, parents and children may feel more comfortable to talk about it together.
4. Involve everybody. Families should be a TEAM. When you sit down and talk as a family to make a decision, make sure you are sincere. Sometimes parents already have a decision made, and while they may listen to everyone else's opinion, they still don't take those opinions into consideration and just stick with the original decision made. Sincerely consider everyone's opinions and ideas. Sometimes they won't work, but go with them when they do. It will make the times you can't go with their ideas easier because they'll know that you do listen and value their opinions.
5. Support and be supported by family and friends. Having a good support system makes the hard times easier and better because you know you have people that have your back.
6. Affirm your family's worth and each individual's self-worth. Knowing that everyone is valuable and loved can be a great support when challenges occur.
7. Have family activities. Doing fun things together is just as important as spending time together doing day-to-day activities. Vacations or just short family outings can bring the family closer to one another. 

Having a strong family foundation will help ensure that the family will overcome crises, instead of succumbing to them.