10 Ten Tips for Family Relationships

Family relationships can be challenging, extremely challenging. Why is it the people we’re related to are often the most difficult to get along with in life? The home is the training ground for life, including relational skill building. Parents and grandparents, we are the influencers. Our interactions become the norm for children. Building family relationships, getting along with one another, and loving well is up to each of us.

Because connecting with family members can be difficult, we included a list of relationship building tips in Faithful Grandparenting: Practical Ideas for Connecting the Generations. This list is a starting point to assist in thoughtfully discerning how each of us can practice empathy, forgive more easily, and love unconditionally.

Ten Tips for Smooth Family Relationships

1. Let the peacemaking begin with you.
2. Expect the best, not the worst.
3. Choose not to retaliate against perceived slights or even legitimate ones.
4. Always pray for direction and wisdom from God for improvement in relationships.
5. Speak truth without blame and be willing to risk pain. It often hurts to work things out.
6. Accept the role of grandparent.
7. Practice the Golden Rule: “Do to others as you would have them do to you” (Luke 6:31).
8. Show kindness to your adult children, their spouses, and the grandchildren.
9. If you have multiple adult children, honor the confidentiality of one family concerning another.
10. Don’t be tempted to talk about family members, as gossip is never helpful.¹

Thank you to the grandparents who want to connect and grow close relationship with their children and grandchildren. Carol Olsen, co-author of Faithful Grandparenting: Practical Ideas for Connecting the Generations, and I were recently guests on the Legacy Coalition’s Grand Monday Nights. This post is especially for the participants who requested the “Ten Tips for Smooth Family Relationships” from the webinar.

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another,
as God in Christ forgave you.
Ephesians 4:32 ESV

© 2022 Becky Danielson. All rights reserved.

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1. Becky Danielson & Carol Olsen. Faithful Grandparenting: Practical Ideas for Connecting the Generations. Colorado Springs: Equip Press, 2021, p. 135-136.

Photo by Roman Holoschchuk on Unsplash