Humor changes everything
A certain amount of light-hearted and good-natured “teasing” can increase feelings of intimacy among you and your family members. Just the right amount of “teasing” that is shared with you and your family members is something that may take time and patience in order to understand each other’s boundaries
Every family could always use a little more laughter in their lives. Humor helps put a smile on everyone’s face, even when your day might not be going as planned. First, you need to learn what your family finds funny. Every family may have a different type of humor and knowing what your family finds the funniest is a great first step to brightening the mood around your house.
However, make sure that your jokes aren’t being taken as disrespect by your family members. Make sure to let your family know that it’s okay to speak up when a joke has gone too far, but it’s also important that you stop making those jokes. Be respectful to your family and stop making jokes that they don’t appreciate, because your goal is to make your household a more positive and fun place to live.
Ask Questions
A great way to start a lighthearted conversation with your family is by asking them a short, but positive question. These can be questions like: “Who are your heroes in real life” or “Did anything funny happen at school today?”. If you make your questions fun and interesting, then your family can become more engaged in their lighthearted conversations. This makes spending time with family more enjoyable and wants everyone to be included in family conversations.
Try to ask questions that include topics in which your family members may find more appealing. For example, if your son likes history, then asking him “Which historical figure do you most identify with?” could be more appealing to him, rather than asking “Did you watch the game last night”?
Keep things cheerful
Making your lighthearted conversations fun and cheerful at the dinner table or during a family event is a good way to brighten up everyone’s day. It can also make everyone want to do more things as a family, because of the great time you had last time you shared a meal or went somewhere together. Having good lighthearted conversations during dinner is a great way to end the day as a family before everyone goes to bed.
The goal of having lighthearted conversations with your family is to use them as a tool to feel more connected and intimate with them. You can’t achieve this goal by having a negative conversation. Remember to keep things positive as best you can, and don’t hesitate to sway the conversation into another direction if you think it might be headed south.