3 Tips For Improving Communication As a Family

Let’s face it–some days, there just aren’t enough hours in the day. Sometimes you feel like you went a whole day without having a meaningful conversation with your children or spouse.

If you’ve felt that way before, this is the right place for you. Over the course of this article, we’ll cover three tips for improving communication with your family.  These tips will help ensure your environment is more positive and productive than negative for all family members. 

Take time to talk about what’s going on in life

This is a great way to make everyone in the home feel involved and connected to each other. 

• The key with this is to just share–it can be a funny moment, a recap of your day, or asking how your children's or spouse's day was. 

• Find a time of day that works best for your family, is it over dinner, in the car to or from school or an activity, first thing in the morning? Try a few different times of the day to just talk to each other and see what works best for your family. 

• Talk about how you’re feeling. This can be positive or negative, but letting everyone know how those in the house are feeling can help prepare for whatever is going on. 

  • If you’re feeling stressed, communicate it, maybe your partner can help. Maybe you’re happy, let them know that too. There’s no “bad” emotion to share. Transparency is key.

• Ask questions–you can turn this into a fun family activity by having a question jar with pre-written questions around anything and everything. Those can include asking how your day was, what was a fun moment from the day, and how are you feeling about [insert topic]?

  • These questions should be focused on open-ended responses vs. yes/no answers to keep the conversation flowing

Make time to connect 

Taking the time to connect with your family does wonders for family dynamics and overall connection.

• Cook and eat together–take time to make meals together if the children are old enough to help. 

  • If they’re younger, make sure you’re either eating together or sitting together during meals. This can be easier said than done some days, so find a meal that works best for your family. Maybe breakfast before school is easier if you’re a morning person, maybe some nights are better than others. There’s no pressure to do this every day, just as often as you can in the beginning to build a foundation.

  • This is a great way to not only get the kids involved, but you’re also teaching them self-confidence in their newfound skills.

• Put the phones and tablets away

  • It’s easy to just get lost in your phone or for kids a tablet or a phone. Take the time to disconnect from those electronics to communicate as a family

Have activities that you can do as a family

By having activities that you do as a family, you’re guaranteed to have something to fall back on that everyone will enjoy.

• Set aside time each week to do something together–this can be a board game, going for a walk, going to the park, or grocery shopping. 

• Ask everyone what’s one thing they’d love to try or do. This is a great way to get everyone involved in something that someone in the family is passionate about. It can also lead to it being a new favorite for everyone.

• Find a schedule that works to have everyone have a “turn” to pick the activity. This can be one weekend a month, a rotation, whatever works for your family.

If you’re noticing a communication gap within your family, let's talk about relationship counseling. It's a great additional resource for effective and healthy communication.