When one becomes a parent, they become the child’s role model and their first teacher. Children always look up to us for guidance. Our family is often our biggest strength and our strongest support system. When a family is happy, everything seems right in their world. But not all families can be stable, healthy and happy all the time.
Often the stress of modern life, the need for better work life balance, a family crisis, health challenges for a family member – any such reasons can create distress, disharmony and bring the family to its knee. This environment will be distressing, damaging and at times even destructive for all family members, especially the children.
As there is no training before one become a parent on how to handle such situations, parents get into the role of bringing in their own past experiences to solve the issue which will not only affect their role as a parent but also suffer from anxiety, frustration and a sense of being overwhelmed.
Improve communication within the family: One of the most common problems within a family is that they find it very difficult at being open to each other which tend to create distance and disconnection between members which in the later stages leads to much bigger problems. The family counselor analysis as a whole, the process of family interaction and the difficulties in communication with each other without taking sides and with counselling they understand their roles in the family, learn how to listen and better communicate the needs and wants, improving communication and understanding of the family situation. In the case of a family member suffering from a disability/difficulty such as anxiety, mood swings, anger issues which handicaps the family and their social functioning, all members would be going through their own ways of handling this special family situation which can easily break
Enhance relationships and strengthen family bonds: Sibling Rivalry-Most homes many a times siblings have their personal conflicts, may develop jealousy on one another, and could be fighting for attention among many other things. Depending on the nature of the fights, if they go unresolved or continues for a long periods of time it can have a serious negative effect on the whole family. Parents can easily fail to notice or understand or not give any importance to these conflicts, hence, raising their children with unresolved feelings. Nevertheless, seeing a family counselor could help you understand your children much better, help siblings recognize and deal with rivalries that may exist once the cause is identified, settle their differences, express their feelings and bring them together.
Individual growth and development of the family members
Builds self-esteem among the family members:Healthy self-esteem is needed to cope with the challenges that come our way. Without self-esteem, people tend to get vulnerable to pressures from friends, society as well interpersonal relationships. If parents lack motivation or have low self esteem, chances of their children suffering from the same will be more. A family counselor can help both the parents and children to understand each other and not get crushed with the expectations of society but feel better about themselves.