by Kellea Croft

Created on: September 06, 2008   Last Updated: September 11, 2008

Teaching your kids the importance of family is important and very easy to accomplish. It will help them in their future and self-esteem knowing they are not alone in the world.

First thing is to make sure that the immediate family has time to share together. I know with the fast pace and demands of the living standards it is hard. Turn off all the electronic devices in the house, even the telephones and spend quality time with laughing conversation. Gather around for some activities together to help out with the silent moments.

Spending time as a family can be done with dinner at the table together and is the best time to find out more about your kids or them about you. The old forgotten board games can give some great time of laughs. Compromise with them and have movie nights for those electronic must dos. Making a trip together to the video store and everyone pick a favourite.

Choose activities to do outside the home together for even more bonding time. Bushwalking, picnics, zoo trips, city walks, etc. You don't have to spend a lot of money going out of town, teach them the importance of where they live so they have a sense of themselves with some roots.

Take time to visit your relatives. Trips to Grandma's house or an uncle/aunt can be great to learn more about them and a sense of the family. We use to have Sunday lunches at Grandma's house every week. We would meet after her churches services at her home and help with the meal. Eating together then sharing time around the living room laughing are moments my son will never forget.

Encourage your relatives to take your child on for a night to learn more about them. This is not to be a babysitting service, but a time just for them to be together doing whatever they like to get into. My uncle use to take my son home with his kids and they would spend the evening in fierce video game fights, movie night or playing with his 4WD.

Do a bit of family history research to show how your family affected the history of the nation. You don't have to do a full out genealogy breakdown. My son became more interested in his studies, more pride in his step and found something to latch onto with his relatives with this. Our great grandfather that fought in the Civil War or Revolutionary War became focal points. Even the ones that were teachers and preachers gave him something to say to people about what his family was made up of.

I took him back to the place our family settled when they came to the United States. Showed him where the farm sat and the homestead our Uncle still lived in that was built in 1842. We walked across the land that our great grandfather was granted for being an Indian Scout and now is in entire small town.

At my grandmother's home we would pull out the old tin type and black/white photos of family members over the years. She would tell stories about each of them and what they did in their life. He now has faces to put to that sense of pride.

In this age of low self confidence, moral decline, depression in teens and drop outs from life; it is essential that they gather a sense of who they are through their family. Even if you were not afforded those you need to make them available to them. Every effort that you make can mean the difference in who your child turns out to be and feel about themself.

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