You may be thinking in this economy at this time about how to save money. That is an excellent thing to do.  In this economically uncertain time it is critical you save every dime you can.  As I mentioned in a previous post, this year especially, I highly recommend that you spend much more time with family and less time shopping.  This year may very well be the year you talk about for the rest of your life.  If you’re old enough it may be your year that is similar to your grandparent’s stories of how bad it was back in the old country or how bad it was during the depression.  But this conversation isn’t about how bad your life is going to be. Its about enriching your family life.

This is a time to look within yourself and see what you can do for people who really have nothing for Thankgiving or the Holidays.  It doesn’t have to be allot.  It needs to be what you can do.  For instance, two of our boys work at the local supermarket and are given a couple of ten pound turkeys.  We are going to give them to the local food bank.  We are also going to look in our pantry for any old can of something we bought that no one is likely to use or may use but we really can afford to give it up.

If you can’t give anything or don’t want, donate some of your time to serve food at the local food bank. If you have never done something like this you don’t know what you are missing.  Giving to a cause that has no seeming benefit to you pays you back ten fold.  If you want to really have a great thankgiving just try giving.  It will make watching the football games or the Macy’s parade seem like the waste of time that it is.

For your family,  as you donate stuff or your time, bring your kids. Let your children see the bounty they themselves have.  As I’ve mentioned in previous blogs, the key to solid relationships is the appreciation and acknowledgement of others in your life.  For those of you having difficulty communicating with your children donating or volunteering will give you and them a chance to step out of your rocky relationship and alter it.  What I mean by this is, in bad communications someone is usually breaking someone else’s rules.  An example of rule breaking could be your child breaking your rules by getting bad grades or not doing their chores or cleaning their room.  For the child, it may be they feel like you are going in their room without their permission.  What ensues after a rule break is an argument until the rules aren’t being percieved as being broken anymore.  What doing the donation does is take you guys out of that dynamic and puts you in a situation where you are on the same team, working together to help others.  What happens then is you get to see each other in a more positive, non confrontational situation with each other.  If your child refuses to go or doesn’t want to go…explain to them how we really need to help some people and thank the other volunteers for taking their time.  Often when you or your children see these other volunteers donating their time it calls us forward to participate.  Nothing but good can come from these moments.

When you feel like you have tried everything to get into better communication with your child realize there are always other avenues you haven’t come up with yet.  Donation and volunteering may be that avenue.  You can also try being a big brother or sister.  Years ago I was listening to an interview with Tony Robbins where someone was telling him how their business was bad and how he had tried everything to get his business moving.  Tony said “You tried everything”?  The man replied he had.  So Tony said ” ok, let me hear your top 30 marketing attempts or strategies that you have used”.  And the man replied he didn’t have that many.  Tony then said ” you haven’t tried everything, you just didn’t try the right one yet”.   So when you have reached your threshold with your children, always realize there are always other ideas to bridge that gap.

Take Back the Home Foundation is designed to help you with your family.  Don’t waste any time, contact us and see what we can do for you and your family.  Cheers, Dr. Robert.  come visit our site at www.takebackthehome.com