Today’s fast life is leading families towards decay and destruction. It is unable to perform all the functions it performed in the past. Problems of all kinds are shooting up. More and more family courts are coming up. They are unable to function with the overflowing cases of divorce.
How are we going to stop the decline in family life and protect the human society?
The serious questions that are facing life today are: “Will family survive? Should it survive? If it should survive what needs to be taken care of?”
Contemporary families are characterized by a series of crises. Crisis in relationship, communication and so on are tormenting the very structure of family. Joint families, which were protecting the family life for generations, have become a dream of the past. Nuclearfamilies find the strain of living in the modern world unbearable. Here are seven steps that can save families from decline.
Build happy and functional families with these seven steps
1) Re-affirm faith in families
Family happiness should first begin in the mindset of every individual. Every body should think that it is necessary for the survival of individuals as well as for the society. The first thing to be done is to re-affirm faith in family. We need to re-affirm in words and deeds that family is the most suitable arena for human life. It is the cradle of truth and truthfulness, love and unity, service and justice.
2) Triple ‘D’ should rule a family
‘Daily Dose of Dialog’ is the ‘triple D rule of any family.
3) Love and forgiveness are the keys
One cannot build a family without love and forgiveness. Things like appreciating the other, expressing affection and letting go of the many wounds that may happen on the way are indeed the foundation stones of a healthy family. Love is not just a feeling but it is a commitment. True love finds time even when you are in a hurry. It refuses the negative and magnifies the positive. It is patient, kind and not jealous or proud.
4) Effective parenting skills edify a happy family
It is unfortunate that we do not bother to get trained in parenting. It is a skill to be acquired. In joint families there people to give that training. But in nuclear families it has become to learn parenting skills to build up a healthy and happy family.
5) Careful selection of mates
This is one of the necessary conditions for a happy and healthy family. In the Indian context arranged marriages posed fewer problems. It was easier in joint families. But the drawbacks of those traditional systems on the basis of caste, dowry and other factors are still threatening family life in India. The increasing number of instant love affairs and instant weddings are leading families to the gates of courts. We have to learn the real values of family life.
6) Counseling and family life education have become essential
Help in this regard is available everywhere for those who want to improve the quality of their family life. Counseling can be helpful in families in two ways. It can be preventive and curative in situations of marital conflicts and build up healthy families. The stigma that counseling is a kind of treatment for mental disorders should be removed from society. Family life education should be promoted at every level of education.
7) Promote family spirituality
All the religions give importance to family rituals and celebrations which provide ample opportunities for communication and unity. Family is best sustained through family spirituality that promotes its sacredness and relationships. It strengthens commitments. It fosters the commitment to humanity and a concern for everyone irrespective of caste, creed, gender or any other social barrier.
Man hails from a family. His thirst for joy and happiness can be realized only through a family. Humanity can survive only through a family or it will perish in course of time.
Seven Steps to Build a Happy Family