Any Parenting Coach worth her mettle will tell you that good communication is the key to good relationships with your kids. Using the valuable Venn Diagram and its stupendous Section C can enhance your lives by highlighting your Common Ground, so you can create happy memories together. Moms, if your relationship is strained, there’s nothing like a few parent-initiated activities with your children to ease the strain.
Why Venn Diagrams Rock
That’s where the Venn Diagram comes in. Separately, you each make a list of your suggestions or favorites. When you share your lists, create a Venn Diagram to organize them. From there, the common ideas/favorites will be obvious. Vote on one, and DO IT!
Need some ideas? Here are 10 random ideas that popped into my head while I was thinking up Versatile Venn Diagram Applications:
Family Oriented Activities
A. Revamp your home together. Rearrange the furniture. Declutter by removing 10 items each for donations. (Use a Venn Diagram to select which ones.) Move wall hangings around. Go to the library and look through Interior Design magazines and books for ideas that won’t cost anything. Organize the garage and/or attic. Design the landscape, or create a vegetable garden.
B. Make a list of your 10 favorite books, and put the titles into a Venn Diagram to find books you both like so your can read them together. Share the books you enjoyed at her age. Discuss plot lines and author styles. Read a book aloud, with each of you playing one of the characters.
C. Make lists of Volunteer activities that you can do together: Habitat for Humanity, storm cleanup, Soup Kitchens, reading to the elderly at the Senior Center, collecting blankets and food for the homeless shelters, conducting a food drive for the local pantry.
D. Take a Field Trip to trek the public spaces: parks, museums, outdoor exhibits, libraries, art galleries, amusement parks, zip-line parks, roller-skating rinks, historical tours, craft fairs, arcades.
E. Explore non-franchised ethnic cuisine: vegan, Ethiopian, Greek, Mongolian hot pot, traditional Mexican, Polish, Portuguese, British High Tea, Jamaican, French, Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese, Korean BBQ, Mediterranean, etc.
F. Make a playlist of the songs you both love. Have it play as background music when you hang out together. Make a playlist for the songs:
• from when she was in middle school
• from last year
• that were your favorites when you were her age
• from every year for the last five years
G. Cook together. Prepare dinner together. Create an elaborate dessert together. Buy fruits you’ve never eaten. Try recipes from a different country. Sample different cuisines. Experiment with different cookware and utensils.
H. Waltz down Memory Lane by creating family photo albums (digital or physical), scrapbooking, making a family tree, investigating the family tree, testing your DNA for your origins.
I. Join a community organization together: community theater, civic orchestra, church choir, women’s sports league, YWCA.
J. Do sports together. Make a Venn Diagram to see which ones you’d both like to do. (And, there are plenty out there for non-athletes, too).
- walk, skip, jump, run, dance
- golf, mini golf, Frisbee Golf, bowling
- swim, snorkel, scuba, row, paddle
- basketball, soccer, lacrosse, volleyball
- zip-line adventure park, weight training
- roller-skating, ice-skating, snowshoeing, skiing
- tennis, badminton, Ping-Pong, handball, racquetball, squash
Building Trust Through Activities with Your Kids
Okay, that might be a little more than 10 ideas, but it’s hard to stop once you start. The point is to find things you both like to do, the things you have in common. The more you target and repeat your fun times, the faster her trust in you will grow. The more your daughter trusts you, the more she will confide in you. The more she confides in you, the better you will understand her. The more you understand her, the less strained your relationship will be. And finally, the less strained your relationship is, the more she will listen when you communicate with her. It’s a sure sign you’re building your trust with her again when she is willing to listen to you.
One more time…
Find Common Activities
- Increase Trust
- Better Conversations
- More Understanding
- Decrease Strain
- Improve Communication
- Closer Relationship
- Improve Communication
- Decrease Strain
- More Understanding
- Better Conversations
Trust brings a lot to the table. Her trust in you means your daughter believes:
- You’ve got her back.
- You really listen to her.
- It’s safe to talk to you.
- You will be there when she needs you.
- You believe that she’s trustworthy.
- She has your support.
- You see how she is maturing.
- You believe in her.
- You understand her.
- She does not have to navigate the teen years alone.
I suggest you focus on what you have in common every chance you get. Keep it in the forefront of her mind. Let her know how precious she is to you. In the process, add more positive memories to your growing pile.
“Awesome Moms always keep trying because your Awesome Daughters are worth it.”
About the Author
Deborah Ann Davis (B.S. in Science Education, M.Ed. in Supervision, and W.I.T.S Personal Trainer Certified) is a parenting coach and strategist.
Whether you’re looking to bring more positivity into your life, or you’re ready to seek the advice of a Parenting Coach, she’s eager to help you put happiness back into parenting.
Deborah has helped hundreds of families over the years, using her experience as an educator and a mother. She has decades of experience dealing with teenagers – as a mother and an educator.
Learn how to improve your mother-daughter relationship today. Every minute you delay prolongs the isolation your child feels while disconnected from you. She’s waiting for you to figure it out, so why not skip the “trial and error” parenting route?
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