The most important thing in the life of any human being is to feel connected to his loved ones. No matter whether you are at work or home, you need to be close to your loved ones. It is very essential to maintain healthy relationship with your family members because after all, your boss is not going to stick to you in your bad times. All it needs is some efforts on your part and a sensible approach towards life.

The first thing that you can do for creating healthy family relationships is to be honest. Keeping secrets from those whom you love creates gaps between people. You do not have to be secretive about anything with your family, as they are your closest buddies. Similar is the case with a friend. It is better to be open and honest rather than be an introvert at times.

Secondly, you should be able to put up your opinions in a soothing way. Everybody has his/her own personal perception and a difference in the perceptions may lead to arguments too. You should be courageous enough to put forward your point of view about any situation or person in the family and have trust on them to handle your opinion. However, you do not have to be blunt to say the truth.

Giving privacy is also important in any family. Not only privacy, you should allow your family members to take their own decision and be ready to face its consequences. There will be times when you will not agree with their decisions but you do not have to have that motherly attitude every time, as it will mar their own growth and self-confidence. Moreover, it is also important to be there with your family members at crucial moments, even if you do not know what to say.

All the above-mentioned things are necessary for creating a bond with your family. And whenever you come across an argument just ask yourself, who is more important the argument or the person.

This is such an important thread Anu, and its something which you understand when you get older. Buts its important for it to be known to the younger generation to understand family, its value and love, as the sooner the understand the better the relationships in future will be.

You may not like someone in your family due to their habits or thinking, but everyone is different and its a fact of life, its always easy to accept people as they are, after all you don't have to be with them 24/7.

You are right.

I only really started to understand the importance of family and friendships when I had children of my own and became a less selfish person because of it.

I read a quote the other day in a magazine which said ' to have friends you have to be one', something I believe to be very true.

Very true. Sometimes people take family for granted, especially when they are younger. Kids love their parents, but often do not fully appreciate the blessing they are. They think the world revolves around them, and parents are there to serve them. Only later in life the full realization of how important family is settles. Sometimes it happens when it is already too late.

It is said that if all else fails, you would still be assured that you have your family on your side and by your side and theyll be there even if you wont call them. You have just to be family to them too. Its a matter not of thinking less of yourself but of thinking of yourself less.

The sad fact is that many families are disfunctional. The one thing I have always strived to do is keep a healthy/ respectful family reltaionship.
Parents who show respect to their children teach children respect for themselves and for others. Being open and honest in a family is also very important.
I do search my teenagers rooms~ hey, you never know ~ but they know that I do it, so there shouldn't be anything in there they don't want me to see.
It is important when children are young to learn to communicate with your family rather then argueing. Talking threw problems that arrise is always the best solution.

Correct.
Everything you said is true.
In our house, I even made a diagram on why should a family always be the first for you to care about, just so that I could it teach to my children easily.

It goes something like this.

In the first circle there's:

Family > Friends > BF/GF > Co workers, bosses, etc., those people whom you less care about.

The point of it is to show them where they'll retreat.

If Co workers, bosses, etc. did something to you, the one you'll probably run back to is to your BF/GF.

If BF/GF did something again to you, you'll then probably run back to your friends.

If something doesn't work out with them and you, you'll probably run back to your family for help.

Afterwards there's nothing, it was as if that's the last line of your defense. Not only because you nowhere to run to but because they're of course reliable and would do almost anything for a family member.

I hope I can show it to you all here sometimes just to explain it more clearly.

The connection among the family member is very important. Every member of the family should understand each others needs. We have to be honest, whenever there are issues, solve it right away. We don't have to wait until it gets worse, do you agree? There will be harmonious and healthy family relationship when you keep this all in mind.

Those are really true, Anu. Honesty, respect and privacy are very important factors for a healthy family relationship. The give and take relationship should be considered as well. We should not be self centered. When we bear this all in mind, everything works out fine. Why do people seem to have difficulty possessing these factors?