Family squabbles are almost inevitable. As the warm Washtenaw County weather begins to seep into our lives and the longer winter and soon-to-be spring sunlit days become longer and longer, the family visits and the accompanying ritualistic arguments are just around the corner.
You know what happens. You are going to prepare the kids and the spouse for what seems to be a “we’re-finally-out-of-the-house weekend visit with the first in a rotation of family siblings and their kids or irritating brother-in-law or “know-it-all” sister-in-law.
Been there and seen it before? Well there are a number of ways that this can become a more family-friendly excursion by adjusting your expectations from welcoming the coming horror to remembering five ways to turn it into a family neighborhood visit.
Think about the confines you are going into. Ann Arbor has a number of wonderful parks and maybe you could consider holding a visit at the nearby school playground where both sets of children will have an opportunity to run and swing and even play in the sand or snow if it is still around, while you break the family ice.
Second, come armed with a few family friendly neutral topics that you and your sibs and their spouses can agree on and treat the conversation with a little levity. If the words and the verbal exchanges appear to be leaning toward hostility recommend a new topic and just bring that to a friendly end. As in, “Those were some good points, but what about those Tigers! What are they going to do this year?”
Remember a family is like a neighborhood. It does not matter whether you are in Ann Arbor, Dallas, Cleveland, or Philadelphia, you still want to find a way to live peaceably and with shared mutual respect.
By taking the first step toward maintaining family civility you are creating a successful and potentially stress free lesson for your kids in the family neighborhood.
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Do you agree or disagree or have your own ideas? Let me know at: http://tinyurl.com/yjxkg6l
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