by Carol Gioia

Created on: May 29, 2011   Last Updated: June 03, 2011

The best recipe for a happy family combines unconditional love with acceptance, tolerance and flexibility. Add generous amounts of laughter and fun. Spice up with celebrations, traditions and generous amounts of time together. Top with family pride and the result will be a family unit that is close, loving and happy.

Ingredients for a happy family:

Unconditional love

This means that family members are not required to capitulate to the wishes of others in order to receive love. Each is free to be who they are, without having to live up to the expectations of others. All parents want their offspring to succeed in life, but one person’s idea of success might not align with another’s. In happy families, individual members are loved just for being themselves.

Acceptance

In happy families, all the members have a comfortable sense of belonging. No one is black-listed for their life style, made to suffer the role of the “black sheep,” criticized or ridiculed because their lifestyle, beliefs or any other trait  might not be the norm for the rest of the family members.

Tolerance

No one is perfect and happy families acknowledge that fact.  Members tolerate the flaws and shortcomings of one another. Human weakness is an accepted fact and happy family members work together, complementing one another’s weaknesses with their own strengths.

Flexibility

Happy families have a “Plan B” mentality. If Plan A is not working, they are readily open to changing directions and switching to plan B. While it is true that functional families succeed due to having rules, when necessary the members are flexible enough to bend the rules to accommodate one another.

Laughter

Fun and laughter are priorities for happy families. They plan time together, spending that time playing together and enjoying one another’s company. Happy families take vacations together, establish family game nights, hold family meetings to stay on top of one another’s schedules, attend one another’s activities and functions, cheering one another on.

Celebrations and Traditions

Happy families make each milestone a celebration. They establish traditions revolving around holidays, special occasions and often simple every day life, creating happy memories with one another along the way. The members of happy families often adopt the same traditions when they grow up and create families of their own. Happy families beget more happy families.

Family pride

Perhaps one of the most important ingredients in the recipe for a happy family is a sense of family pride. Members put family first, back one another up, are there for each other with love, support and encouragement. They take pride in being a part of a close, loving family.

The recipe for a happy family begins with two generous-spirited parents who have optimistic attitudes, calm deameanors and positive work ethics, all of which they pass on to their children.

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