It is often said that a sports team, no matter the sport, must build and harness a family environment within the squad if it wants to be successful. It not as common to hear this reversed: to hear that a family can be made successful by working more as a team. But why is this the case? When a family can work in a team-like fashion each individual in that family will see a benefit. When autism rising days come along as they always do, everyone works together like a cohesive unit because we believe we’re all in this together.
Do things together to build closeness
Sports teams must work as one if they want to be successful, and this means your family team must do this too. You must all work together on certain subjects and activities to show that it is a case of one for all rather than all for one. There are a plethora of ways you achieve this. It could be that you all sit down to eat a meal together. It could mean you all work together in building something, such as a tree house or put together a puzzle. Family game night is a great way to build positive episodic memories as a family. It could mean heading out on a retreat that offers together activities and options as well as taking family trips together. Whatever you do to build closeness within your family, make sure you do them and do them often! Closeness will help children believe that the family succeeds as a whole. That is an important abstract concept that can be difficult to understand for our kids who think in pictures.
Establish a leader/captain
Every good team needs a captain to lead them, and your family team is no different. It’s important to establish a leader — which will be either you or your partner (basically, any adult) — within your family team because it gives the younger members somebody to look up to as well as take orders from. This will help them to be fully aware of what their role is in your team and who is in charge of deciding what they do. It helps everyone to have a leader to look towards when uncertainty rears it’s ugly head. Children crave the security of knowing someone is in charge. Take it from a child who didn’t have that in her childhood. That security blanket allows a child the freedom to flourish and make mistakes from which to learn.
This is especially true in homeschooling. There has to be someone who gets the final say and to whom everyone is held accountable. Just like you can’t have a team without a captain, you can’t have a family without a leader. Decide who is going to be in charge and make sure everyone knows it. Of course, each member of your family can be involved in the group’s decision making. Having a focal point for these decisions is never a bad thing.
Make sure to celebrate
When sports teams win, they celebrate. When your family team wins at anything, you should celebrate too. This win could take any form. It could be your children acing a test. It could be you or your partner achieving a promotion. It could be all of you finishing a family task together. The actual win is irrelevant but make sure to celebrate it by doing something fun or special.. When you do so, you instantly let all the members of your family know how much they are valued and appreciated in addition to showing your children that hard work pays off. Celebrate a family win together as a family. Remember that you are trying to build positive familial episodic memories.
Building a strong team within your family is instantly going to result in the creation of a happy home. Why? Because it means everybody will be working towards the same goal: making the family happy. Everyone yearns to belong to a group that loves and cherishes them. Having a strong family unit will help your marriage thrive and your children will know what it feels like to belong to something wonderful. This will follow them for the rest of their lives.
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