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Family bonds have taken a beating in recent decades with the majority of marriages ending in divorces and children born to parents who choose to remain single. It seems that the days when families sat together for meals or spent any quality time together are long gone, but this is very untrue.

The nuclear family is almost extinct, replaced with single parent headed households, multigenerational homes and homes when families are blended together. All types of families can have the same strong values of long ago if the family unit chooses to work together and continue to be strong.

How can you find the time to have quality time when every one is so busy to keep the strong bond there, that answer is simply that you must take the time when someone has a need. I am a single mom and I am proud to have a strong family bond with my three children, the eldest of whom is living in my house with her two little children.

We have family meetings as needed to discuss important events, so that everyone feels as if they are involved and their opinion matters. All my children know that they can discuss whatever is on their mind, they will be heard, and their suggestions if valid will be incorporated into action.

I have always taken the time to discuss issues on a personal level with my children, as needed and we will remain in isolation for as long as needed. My three-year-old grand daughter even requests these conversations', which tend to be just time to read a book but she wishes to be like her uncles and have these conversations. It is never too early to include toddlers in this form of talking because they get the one on one time they need and they feel grown up.

Now the boys and I will discuss puberty and other issues as to what is important to them, both know that no subject is too hard to discuss. Occasionally we will discuss school or my older son's job and my boys come to me about the personal stuff as their sister did. It is not as tough to raise teen boys when you are a single mom as I thought it would be, if I do not know the answers, I find them out and talk it over with the boys. Having private discussions and treating them as though their opinions mattered since they were small has helped to strengthen the family bonds I have with my children.

My young adult daughter knows she can count on her brothers and me if she needs help with her two children. My boys are learning about infants and toddlers on a first hand level and helping their sister, which is strengthening the family bonds between my children.

I am very close to all three of my children, and perhaps it is because they very much feel abandoned by their father who has little to do with them. The children and I do a lot together, when they were little we read in the big bed before they went to their own beds for the night. We played together, walked together, and went to the local park together; the family bonds are strong with my children because I took the time to be an active parent to them when they were little.

Family bonds are very important to every family, but to my family it is an essential part of the big picture. It is a life long series of events, and this is what is helping them to become strong productive members of society.

Learn more about this author, Amy Jo Browne.
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