Family Meetings

Starting around age 6 children have the ability to problem solve. A good way to teach these skills is to hold regular family meetings conducted with rules.

• Make it formal. Set a time and place that is reserved for this meeting.
• Make it regular-every week is best so that issues don't stack up.
• Make sure each person is heard without judgment or interruption. Start with the person who has a concern then ask each other person their ideas about this concern. No on should say bad things about the concern or about the other people.
• Discuss and plan fun activities so meetings are not just about negative things.
• Express appreciation for each other as a regular part of the meeting. For instance, each person might thank a family member for help that week or praise some accomplishment they had.
• If there are problems to talk about, clearly define the concern and write it down in specific terms.
• Ask each other family member to give their thoughts about the problem.
• Make a list of possible solutions. Include some very unusual but unlikely ideas to free up the thinking. For instance, one solution to sharing toys would be to buy two of everything.
• Cross out ideas that just can't work and combine the others into a plan with each person's job for the plan written down.
• Write down conclusions and try them for 2-3 weeks then discuss them again to see if the problem has been solved.
• Have it be fun! Serve snacks or tell jokes at the meeting too!