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Connection ResourcesThis is the place to come for tips on how to connect with your family. Topics will change from time to time so check back periodically for more pointers.
How's Your Family Doing?
How would you categorize your family environment? Most of us fill so many shoes, wear so many hats, and juggle so many schedules that we end up living to work instead of working to live. We have more possessions, more debt, more responsibilities, and more to lose than previous generations. We fight our way through e-mails, voice mails, traffic, and life. As the day ends, we often find that it has taken everything we have just to survive. Hanging on to our sanity, our ideal weight, and family time takes everything we have. With today's lifestyle moving at the speed of DSL, it's an uphill struggle. Family choices are complex. The answers to our questions become more difficult as we face rapid-fire changes and fuzzy values. What boundaries do we set? What battles do we fight? When do we overlook the way a teenager wants to look? Or the unreasonable demands of an escalating career? What do we eliminate from an already cluttered life? How do we handle family resentment when unexpected medical expenses cancel out a much-anticipated family vacation? Resources and tools are available to help you determine the state of your family, identify your time constraints, and ease up on the stress of everyday living. You need to evaluate where you are before you can determine what changes you need to and want to make. Print out the Connections Family Life Evaluation that follows and rate your personal and family life from your perspective. Ask your spouse to do the same. Be honest. It's okay to have some low ratings. There will be times when conditions are not ideal. That's life. Not many parents can navigate through the years of college expenses without incurring debt. So it's understandable if you aren't able to keep expenses within your income. Don't let temporary setbacks discourage you along the way.
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