Strong families are the bedrock of strong communities, and strong communities are critical to a strong nation. Strong family bonds, however, can’t be built when everyone in the family is too busy to spend time together. While the debate still rages over whether quantity or quality is the most critical, there is no doubt that family time is vitally important. Here are three reasons that spending time together as a family is important.
Real Love
For better or worse, no one is ever going to love you like your own family. That doesn’t mean that family members will always like each other, it means when the chips are down, there are few people in the world you can count on like your own family. People often think of time spent with family as something they give to their families, but in truth, it might just be one of the very best things you can do for yourself.
Growth
We often think of parents as being the ones to teach children, and they do, but children can sometimes teach parents just as much. Children have not yet had an opportunity to become jaded and still view the world with innocence. In many cases, they can actually remind adults of what is really important and help them return to some important roots. Children also need time with parents and other adult family members to learn about their roots, their heritage and other important socialization skills.
Refuge
Whether doing dishes or grieving the loss of a loved one, tasks are easier to accomplish and burdens are easier to bear when shared with others. On the other hand, there are only a handful of people we can legitimately share any kind of burden or task with. While your coworkers may be sympathetic to the loss of a beloved family pet or tragic news like a bad diagnosis, they can’t genuinely grieve with you because they don’t know the person or share the bond with them that you do. The only ones that can truly grieve or mourn with you are others that share the same bond that you do. As painful as tragedy is, there is little that bonds a family together more strongly, but strong families also tend to move better through tragedy.