Loading... Tips for productive family meetings.

I'm not a fan of turning family communication and/or togetherness into a meeting.

When my children were young there were the decisions I made that applied to me and the family. Then there were the decisions my husband made that applied to him and the family. Of course, he and I made decisions between us and shared them with the children. With regard to any of these decisions, as a family who spent a lot of time together, we just communicated to the children whatever "news" there was. I suppose, technically, communicating information to the children in a group may be considered a "meeting", but the natural, informal, nature of these times was clearly not something seen as a meeting.

To me, the best communication in families comes naturally and without the formal structure of a meeting.

When it came to any issue related to one child's behavior or school matters, I dealt with those individually (and don't believe siblings should be around for that type of discussion).

In other words, I think the most productive family meetings include only the two adult parents - and parents can then share what went on at the "meeting" (in an informal and natural conversation) with children.

Following are tips for productive family meetings: Don't have children. Period. No fam, no family meetings. If you inadvertently have children, put them immediately up for adoption. See above. ... keep reading →

It is important to have family meetings on a regular basis. This article offers some advice on how to conduct family meetings. keep reading →