HAVING FUN AS A FAMILY

As an adult I enjoyed watching a certain family show on T.V. called “The Cosby Show”.    The Cosby Show appeared on NBC from 1984 to 1992.  The series depicted a close knit and prosperous African American family (The Huxtables) that lived in New York City.  Bill Cosby was an OB-GYN Doctor, and his wife Phylicia Rashad was an attorney.  They were a happily married couple who had aspirations of raising their five children in an uplifting, and positive environment.  The Cosby Show showed us how this family successfully handled difficult situations in the home, and how they enjoyed having fun together building a close strong family.  I remembered a scene in season 2 episodes 3 called “The Anniversary” where Bill Cosby’s family sang and dance to a song for his mother and father.  The couple was celebrating 47 years of marriage.  The scene showed how the family had fun together and truly enjoyed one another.  I thought to myself it is good to be able to have fun with your wife and children while connecting together relationally.

Having fun together as a family is important in building a strong, healthy family relationship.  Family life isn’t just about dealing with difficulties and conflicts.  It is also about having fun together with one another.  Handling and responding properly to difficult situations in our family helps to mature our relationship, but also learning how to have fun in our family helps to mature our relationship.  When I mention about having fun as a family I am talking about doing fun things together, and enjoying a time of laughter with each other.  Having fun with our spouse and children is an important factor for having a close knit family.  

To tell you the truth, having fun and laughter is a principle that is healthy for any person and any relationship.  The late Norman Cousins, professor of UCLA’s School of Medicine, wrote about his life-changing experience with laughter in his book “Anatomy of an Illness”.  Even one of the wisest men that ever lived in history King Solomon spoke about the importance of fun and laughter in our life.  His thoughts are captured in the Bible, “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength.”   A cheerful heart can come from having fun and laughter, which can be good medicine for our emotional health.  Solomon also says a broken spirit saps a person’s strength, and this can refer to a person who experienced emotional hurt.  Emotional hurt that is caused by a conflict with our spouse or children can sap our physical strength, which can affect our relationship with them.  Fun and laughter can be the medicine to help heal our emotional state and draw us closer together as a family.  Now, if there is a problem at some point, we will still have to deal with it in a mature way.  But, sometimes having fun together can help break the tension that is from a conflict. 

In regards to the Stradford Family, we love having fun and laughter because it draws us closer together.  In our family we are all are different, but we balance one another out.  For instance my wife is the serious one of the family but she loves a good laugh, Danielle is serious, but always looking for something funny to laugh about, David is the comedian of the family, Danae is the funny, playful, and free-spirited one, and I am the serious and playful one.  We realize there is a time for being serious and a time for having fun.  So parents, I encourage you to take time out of your busy schedule, and begin to plan some time where you can come together and have fun as a family.  It will help your family relationship and cause you to connect closer together.  Also don’t allow a conflict to separate you as a family because it will keep you disconnected from each other.  Handle the situation correctly, stay connected with each other, and have some fun together.  Family life doesn’t always have to be serious all the time.  It is good for us to be able to laugh and have fun because it is a way to bring us closer together, and create great memories that will last a life time.

Would love to hear your thoughts, questions, or feedback.