The Importance Of Maintaining Healthy Family Relationships

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Having a strong and supportive family unit is an essential part of human fulfillment. Even animals value the benefits they get from a family type atmosphere.

Humans, especially, seek to maintain healthy family relationships to enhance their emotional growth. Typically, the family relationship is viewed as a nuclear family.

The immediate biologically related members of a family are the mother, the father, and the children.

The conventional family unit can extend to relatives, with some families building stronger, deeper ties than others.

Regardless of the depth of the family relationship, here are four reasons why it is important to foster healthy family relationships.

1. Value development

Moreover, value and moral development in childhood have been considered as one of the central aspects of socialization.

Almost everyone can associate family with the concept of role models and with the development of a moral compass. Children begin to watch what adults do from a very early age.

Watching and observing the people that become part of their world establishes their sense of right and wrong. As children grow older, the number of people whose behavior they witness also grows.

A strong set of family values, built on any number of healthy family relationships, can provide children with a firm foundation and a good sense of moral character.

2. Personal well being and emotional growth

Family members contribute to each other’s emotional well-being. When the world turns harsh, many people realize the love and understanding of their family is the most important thing in the world.

Many theories place a great deal of emphasis on the standard two-parent and child family structure. Still, there have been numerous studies that seem to indicate it isn’t always about the formality of structure.

Developing a sense of personal self-worth and experiencing more positive emotions is beneficial for children, as well as adults.

However, this growth can come from several attributes associated with all types of family structures and relationships with the family.

The primary premise is that building healthy family relationships, even with a secondary group of people viewed as family, is essential to human emotional growth.

3. Responsibility

The core of the family unit has many inherent responsibilities. As each member of the family takes care of their duties, the family benefits from it, and it gets stronger.

A strong family structure teaches the importance of responsibility and fulfilling obligations and duties, which benefits everyone.

Children keenly watch how adult members of the family unit meet their responsibilities. Molding a family relationship structure that has a foundation in upholding commitments helps to build a responsible person.

People continue to develop a good sense of being responsible all through their life, but the foundation for building strong family relationships can best be laid within the family unit.

4. Empathy and compassion

One of the most difficult things that people try to develop later in life is a sense of emotional empathy for others. Families make for an excellent environment for developing the all-important personality trait of emotional empathy and intimacy.

When children and adults are exposed to an empathetic and compassionate family atmosphere, they learn to foster more intimate relationships.

When there are intimate and robust family ties, the fear of emotional intimacy is reduced. An open, healthy family setting helps to reduce any inherent fear of emotional intimacy.

Humans learn how to express and control their emotions from their family environment. Children can develop a true sense of emotional empathy by observing others in their family.

When it comes to learning to be compassionate about others, the roots of empathy start at the family level.

It is essential to the development of children and the growth of stable adults to maintain healthy family relationships.

A family environment that fosters a healthy sense of self, built around strong values, naturally fosters an air of healthy responsibility.

When people have these three core principles nurtured by positive and healthy family relationships, their ability to be empathetic and compassionate to all people can easily blossom.

All in all, the importance of relationship or, in this case, healthy family relationships are

• Emotional and intellectual development of children
• Helps in children’s behavioral and psychological growth
• Resolving and overcoming conflict easily
• It helps in enhancing the sense of responsibility in children

Also, watch this TEDx talk by child Psychologist Dr. John VanDenBerg on why children must live with families.

How to maintain healthy relationships with family

Here are some tips on how to maintain a healthy family relationship:

• Respect: Respect is an essential component for maintaining relationships in a family. Respect, friendship, and tranquility are the components that keep up harmony when a conflict emerges. Encourage affection and warmth inside your family. During an emergency in the family, you may need it to assist you in understanding what you are appreciative of your family.
• Communication: Having a meaningful conversation helps you connect with your family on a more profound level. Whether it’s to share your sentiments, accomplishments, or encounters, sharing implies that you, the other person means something to you. To encourage better family communication, express yourself coherently and simply, emphasize the importance of honest and open communication, and, most importantly, maintain trust and listen actively.
• Teamwork: Teamwork is an effective contributor in creating healthy family relationships.  When you work together, it brings you closer and helps you find practical solutions. Moreover, it helps children become more independent and mature. 
• Appreciation: Appreciation is the key to preserving healthy family relationships. Acknowledge the achievements of others in your family and appreciate them for their efforts and commitment. Take an interest in their lives and acknowledge their abilities and differences.

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