We went to a church meeting a while ago where they challenged our families to hold regular family councils. We haven’t done very well at holding them regularly, but we are trying. When we do hold family council’s those weeks seem to run much more smoothly.
Holding a regular Family Council can help family members bond with each other, teach your children goal setting skills, and help parents understand the needs of their children.
I’ve created printables for to help you and your family stay on task and get things done during the meeting. If your kids are like mine, they can get side tracked really quickly. This printable will help you through the process.
To print or save these printables, just click HERE for the color version or HERE for the black and white version. The printable will open in a new window. Then RIGHT CLICK and choose print or save as.
There are 7 steps in my family counsel. You can decide what works for your family and add or take away anything you need. Each family is different and so should each family council.
Step 1: Praise session. This is when each family member takes a turn saying something positive about each family member. Including themselves. They can complement a physical trait or tell everyone something they admire about that person. This will help each family member realize the good qualities everyone has and why they love them.
Step 2: How is everyone doing? How are the kids feeling about school? How are they feeling about their friends? How is bedtime going? What about after school chaos? Discuss what is relevant to your family and try to find solutions to problems and praise what is going well. Part 2 is talking about what each family member has done during the week to accomplish a goal and how that went.
Step 3: What is working well in our family and why? Identifying what is working well and why it’s working well will help each family member realize that their actions are making family life better.
Step 4: What can we improve on? How can we make our relationships better? How can we manage our time better? Working through problems with the help of our family members can only make our relationships stronger.
Step 5: Family Calendar. Ask each family member things that they have planned for the week or month and add them to the calendar. This way you can find time conflicts and figure out how to solve them. You’ll also find out when your teenager needs the car. Something VERY important!
Step 6: Write down each family members weekly or monthly goal. Give each family member a separate sheet of paper for them to write down their goals. Also have them add the steps it will take to accomplish their goals.
Step 7: Write down your family’s needs and wants so you can budget the up coming month. Do you kids need new socks and underwear? Does your child have a birthday coming up? Does your child have a science fair coming up?
Families should work as a unit and not against each other. They should work on accomplishing goals together and support each other. Family councils will help your family become more cohesive and they will make your days run more smoothly.
When do you hold family council’s? Hopefully you hold them at least once a month. You will not regret making this a family tradition.
If family is as important to you as it is to me, then you should check out RootsTech. RootsTech is a free one-day event for LDS church members, including families, that helps you discover and share your family stories through interactive activities, inspirational messages from church leaders and other popular speakers, and access to an expo hall with hundreds of exhibitors to help and assist. Also if you are interested in your family history, RootsTech offers more than 30 classes to learn the basics to build your family tree and discover your family history. If you are a little more advanced with family history, RootsTech offers over 200 classes to help you expand your skills, learn about new and emerging technologies, and explore best practices to overcome research brick walls.
In order for you to love your family you need to learn more about where you came from and RootsTech will help you do that.
I hope this helps you keep your family closer!
[…] a day of worship and a time to rejuvenate. We love to have quality family time on Sunday. Holding family counsels and just enjoying each others […]