Once a week, people all over the world sit down for a family meeting. As seen on television, this is where families get to share their feelings, confess their sins and find solutions to problems.
Unlike television however, is the real reactions to these disclosures. So, how do you have a family meeting? I’m going to offer simple rules of engagement that will ensure that you are able to have a great meeting and quality time.
1. Have a plan for after the meeting- this helps everyone to focus if after the meeting, as a family you have something to look forward to like family fun night or movie night.
2. Pray- the ol’ addage says that the family that prays together, stays together. Some people like for each member of the family to pray, and others select one person, or the head of household. Prayer is very intimate and it invites the solution into your problem before anyone can open their mouth about it. Prayer helps people to evaluate their feelings, and to be conscious of their desire to mend and fix, than to blame and ruin.
3. One at a time- you can not get any more basic than that. If everyone is talking, no one is listening. Listening requires you to empty your rain of opinion and internalize what the person intends to convey without an immediate response. Listening is vital for a healthy relationship.
4. Apologize- I anticipate that there may be some apologizing in your conversation somewhere, even if its for ignoring the dishes or forgetting to turn off the stove.
5. Taking sides- be sure to support each other inclusively. There should never be a time in your session that one person feels singled out. By focusing on solutions you can avoid this common mistake.
I pray you have more productive family meetings each week!
