I have several young children. I want to always be close with them. I want them to trust me and know they can call me about anything at anytime.
Looking back on my childhood, my grandfather somehow created this environment where our family was over there all of the time. Weeknight dinners, weekends, after church events, grilling out for the hell of it, etc. My extended family came too. It was just a place to hang out. My grandfathers adult children called him quite a bit to chat. They stopped by all of the time. He made an effort to ‘take care’ of everyone in a variety of ways — he gave out cash when needed, brought groceries by, picked up grandkids, let them spend the night, cooked for everyone, did home repairs at all of kids houses, etc. There was just this aura around him where everyone loved him, respected him, and wanted to be around him. I never heard the guy complain about anything.
Enough of my history…my question is how do you build and maintain relationships like that with your kids? Mine are still very young, but I can only imagine building the relationship starts now. I see so many families, including parts of my own, that don’t want to spend time together. They don’t want to come over for meals, etc. Hell, I only see my parents once every few months now. I have this goal of my house and my relationships with my kids and grandkids being like that of my grandfather, but I don’t exactly know how he fostered that kind of environment.
What are your thoughts are how you practically create these strong family bonds that last? I know this is a vague question, but please feel free just to share thoughts. I don’t know if it’s just my experience, but I feel that family units aren’t as close as they used to be … at least in the West.