Family Connectedness
Family Connectedness is the caring, love, trust, positive communication, fun, and time together that family members have with each other. We focus on family connectedness because it is a well-known protective factor which helps young people to grow up healthy, happy, and more able to deal with challenges in life.
There are a lot of small things we can do to increase family connectedness each day. Here are a few places to find ideas!
The Family Dinner Project Discover new ways to create lively conversation, overcome common challenges and bring your family closer.
The Center for Parent & Teen Communication works to ensure that every caring adult has the knowledge and skills to promote positive youth development and foster strong family connections.
They have sections for parents and also for youth. All of the topics help in some way with family connectedness, including supporting healthy decisions, communication strategies that work, how to support emotional health and manage stress, and much more. They also have a diverse, experienced staff.
They have a parenting newsletter (you can sign up on the homepage) and an educator newsletter (sign up here).
Learn about Family Day, and the movement to celebrate simple, everyday things parents and caregivers do to connect with their kids. The fourth Monday in September is observed as National Family Day, and it serves as an inspiration to all of us to spend time with our kids frequently, whether sharing a meal, playing a game, or asking about their day. Here’s a cool infographic for Family Day 2023 that you can check out, download, and share.
Getting Kids of All Ages Involved in Cooking From partner coalition 4SC: ideas for how to include and engage kids and youth in the kitchen, from toddlers to teens.
Teaching Young Children About Body Boundaries A 5-minute video about 3 body boundaries with authors of the Kindergarten and 1st grade module of Our Whole Lives Sexuality Education from The Unitarian Universalists Association and United Church of Christ. More Our Whole Lives videos are available for young children here.