Part IV: Overruled - Setting family rules!

The fourth and equally important part is the rules you use to play the wellness game in your family. The Oxford dictionary define rules as, “one of a set of explicit or understood regulations or principles governing conduct or procedure within a particular area of activity.”  (http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/rule) 

Rules therefore tend to project what one ‘must do.’ Now, let’s shift that perception to the concept of ‘should do.’ Let’s take the word from its flat definition form and see how rules are actually a vital, dynamic and extremely influential force in your family life.  

Family rules are important as soon as two or more people live together. Typically rules revolve around money and budgeting, getting the chores done, planning for individual needs, dealing with household fixes and any other contributing factors that make it possible for the family to live together in the same house. The question is who makes the rules, what they do for your family and what happens when they are broken?! 

The answers to these questions lie in the following 21 steps. Adhering to these will ensure a family that is having a ball. Ok! Just kidding – here are 3 simple steps to setting family rules which actually work in the best interest of your household. 

Step 1: Finding out about the rules in your family.

Many a times you may find that you are living by rules of which you’re not even aware. Therefore sit with all family members and ask the following questions: 

·         What are your current rules?

·         How well understood are your rules? 

Do not discuss at this stage whether the rules are right or wrong, whether they are being obeyed or disobeyed. This exercise should be carried out in the spirit of brain storming together, trying to discover all there is to find. Maybe you have a nine year old boy who thinks that the rule is that he has to he has to stop playing when his younger sister wants to use the same game. He figures that since he is elder he must sacrifice his play time. His sister on the other hand thinks that the rule is that her brother stops playing when his mother tells him to. Can you see the misunderstanding that can result from this? This could be happening in your home. Also, often irate parents say, “The kids know what they should and shouldn’t do.” Ask the kids and they are clueless. Most people ‘assume’ that everyone else knows what they know. Talking over your rule inventory can help identify rules which are unfair or inappropriate, assist with clearing misunderstandings and other behavioral problems. 

For many families simply sitting and discovering their rules is new and proves to be extremely enlightening.  

Step 2: Work towards discovering which of your rules are still up to date and which are out dated. Discard the old and unfitting ideas and select the ones you find useful. Now ask the following questions: 

·         Are the rules helping or obstructing?

·         What do you want them to accomplish?

·         What agreement have you worked out for making changes in your rules?

·         Who is allowed to ask for changes?

·         Can your family members appeal against a rule? 

Furthermore, dig a little deeper: 

·         How are rules made in your family?

·         Does just one of you make them?

·         Is it the person who is the oldest, youngest or most powerful? Is it the head of the family who calls all the shots, or your mother in law; or is it the daughter in law who now holds all the reins?

·         Do you get them from books, from society, from peers or from the families where the parents grew up, where do they come from?

And eventually talk about the rules that act as an invisible force, controlling the lives of all family members. These are the ‘unwritten rules’ dealing with the freedom to comment.

       ·         Can you share what you’re seeing, feeling, thinking and hearing?

·         Can you express your helplessness, anger, need for comfort, etc.

·         To whom can you say it?

·         How do you go about it if you disagree or disapprove of someone or something?

·         How do you question when you don’t understand (or do you)?

·         Do you have any topics which you can’t talk about and can’t talk about why not either?

A family provides all kind of experiences. Some of joy, others of pain or sadness. Whatever the feelings, if they cannot be recognized and commented on, they get shoved under the carpet and eat away at the roots of the family well-being. For e.g. when you hear expressions like, “you shouldn’t feel like that, you’re a boy, boys don’t cry.” This develops attitudes about individual self-worth, which translates itself into helplessness, hostility and loneliness.

Step 3: Lastly after you have thought about your rules and examined them, why not check them out against the following questions:

       ·         What are your new rules?

·         What are they accomplishing for you now?

·         What changes do you need to make now?

·         Which of your present rules fit?

·         Which have to be discarded?

·         What new ones do you have to make?

In conclusion, we have seen how rules can be a very real part of the structure and functioning of the family. It takes continuous effort to bring about continuous improvement. New awareness, new resolve and new hope can enable you to change the rules of the game and create win-win outcomes for your family.

Credits: Based on the research of famous American author and renowned family therapist, Virginia Satir.

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