Family Meeting to Maintain Household and Relationship

Let’s face it, this life is complex. You’re probably spread too thin between work, eating, cleaning, laundry, bathing, exercise (if you even have time), and family. Even if you don’t have ADHD, it might feel like you’re constantly surfing from crisis to crisis and making more mistakes than you’d like. This can make you anxious and stressed out. If you do have ADHD, it can feel like trying to set out a blanket for a picnic in a tornado. But this isn’t your fault. Modern life is too busy and too complex. However, you can get a handle on it with a Family Meeting (even if you do have ADHD).

I frequently recommend to couples (yes, even those without kids) that they set up a regular family meeting. Family meetings may sound like a quaint or conservative idea. But you don’t have to have 7 children or be a chronic maximizer at home to benefit from a little regular review of how your household functions. Afterall, many relationship problems are caused by external stressors and managing the household can reduce those!

 

Family Meeting Benefits

Here are some of the potential benefits of a family meeting:

• • Stop having to make last-minute schedule changes. Coordinate calendars ahead of time to accommodate schedule anomalies.
  • Don’t raise resentments when they are hot.
  • Do bring up issues like chore balance while everyone is calm.
  • Instead of feeling like life is always too busy to accomplish larger tasks (like decluttering your closet), you and your household can schedule it in advance.
  • Review your family culture for birthdays and holidays, and make sure you are being the family you want to be.

In conclusion, a family meeting can manage not just the calendar but also the relationships and emotions of your household.

Freebie Guide

In this .pdf, I’m providing a little window into some practical interventions I gift to my clients. This is the first of several Fitz’s Quick Fixes yet to come, offering insights and action-oriented plans for helping with some of the most common issues I see in my practice. I hope this handout can support your family.

If you are in California and looking for a therapist and you liked this handout, please contact me.