Tuesday, August 02, 2005
PowerPoint and the Family Meeting...
I only know of "family meetings" as a sitcom device, where a self-important teen or parent calls a family meeting as a matter of exposition. Apparently this hackneyed sitcom feature has leeched into the real world. Imagine real families, scheduling regular family meetings. How bizarre. Mary Hanna writes about it in a funny article called "Power families use PowerPoint to make points".
Obviously, I'm not from a power family. We never have formal "family meetings" where we discuss our life's goals and objectives in a business-like setting.
In my world, important family conversations occur ad hoc and always...or at least over the course of the regular family events: meals, playtime, vacation, bathtime, bedtime, etc.
Important family discussions go down way better that way. Discuss goals while staring dreamily at stars. Chat about the day's activities over dinner. Share plans over breakfast.
And we absolutely never discuss anything of familial importance over PowerPoint slides!
"How was you day, dear?" needn't elicit a precise, blow-by-blow status report. My friend Oud says this bizarre behavior might be a function of busy families doing too much, not sharing enough meals together...so they contrive a way to stiffly communicate. If that's the case, then these people need family counseling, not family meetings!
Do most real people call formal family meetings? Really? How freaky is that? ¶ 8/02/2005 03:20:00 PM
I only know of "family meetings" as a sitcom device, where a self-important teen or parent calls a family meeting as a matter of exposition. Apparently this hackneyed sitcom feature has leeched into the real world. Imagine real families, scheduling regular family meetings. How bizarre. Mary Hanna writes about it in a funny article called "Power families use PowerPoint to make points".
Obviously, I'm not from a power family. We never have formal "family meetings" where we discuss our life's goals and objectives in a business-like setting.
In my world, important family conversations occur ad hoc and always...or at least over the course of the regular family events: meals, playtime, vacation, bathtime, bedtime, etc.
Important family discussions go down way better that way. Discuss goals while staring dreamily at stars. Chat about the day's activities over dinner. Share plans over breakfast.
And we absolutely never discuss anything of familial importance over PowerPoint slides!
"How was you day, dear?" needn't elicit a precise, blow-by-blow status report. My friend Oud says this bizarre behavior might be a function of busy families doing too much, not sharing enough meals together...so they contrive a way to stiffly communicate. If that's the case, then these people need family counseling, not family meetings!
Do most real people call formal family meetings? Really? How freaky is that? ¶ 8/02/2005 03:20:00 PM
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As I was growing up, we had regularly scheduled family meetings as well as a "Chore Chart", we weren't strange, nor were we modelling our lives after a sitcom. Our household was busy, with three teenagers, a pre-teen and a single parent. Maybe we did not eat dinner together every day, but 5 out of 7 isn't bad and having the regularly scheduled meeting allowed my teen siblings and myself to discuss issues that we weren't comfortable discussing at the dinner table. At the family meeting, when it was my turn to talk, everyone else listened before sharing their comments; that was one of the rules. Whereas at the dinner table, it was much more laid back for my siblings to scoff at my "great ideas", or vice versa.
I now hold regular family nights with my pre-teen, whether it is playing a game of her choice, or discussing important issues that need attention (aside from the daily reminders about homework and normal conversation). These meetings let her know that she doesn't have to be afraid to talk to me and have opened some doors that were previously shut. The meetings also help her develop good decision-making abilities and allow her time to think things through before and after the meetings as well as throughout her day.
She has already faced issues of friends drinking, doing drugs and going to parties. She also has sexually active friends in middle school. If I had not started these meetings and continued to hold daily conversations with her, she may very well have made some wrong decisions about whether to come home or go with her friend.
Family meetings aren't bizarre. They facilitate open communication and are helpful through the odd years when girls eventually become women and when parents of teenagers just don't know what else to do to get their kids to talk to them!
I could see my daughter eventually taking control of the family meetings using powerpoint handouts, since we all spend a lot of time on our computers, even gaming online with one another. She is also very skilled with PowerPoint, already. Though, I cannot say that I ever would.
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I now hold regular family nights with my pre-teen, whether it is playing a game of her choice, or discussing important issues that need attention (aside from the daily reminders about homework and normal conversation). These meetings let her know that she doesn't have to be afraid to talk to me and have opened some doors that were previously shut. The meetings also help her develop good decision-making abilities and allow her time to think things through before and after the meetings as well as throughout her day.
She has already faced issues of friends drinking, doing drugs and going to parties. She also has sexually active friends in middle school. If I had not started these meetings and continued to hold daily conversations with her, she may very well have made some wrong decisions about whether to come home or go with her friend.
Family meetings aren't bizarre. They facilitate open communication and are helpful through the odd years when girls eventually become women and when parents of teenagers just don't know what else to do to get their kids to talk to them!
I could see my daughter eventually taking control of the family meetings using powerpoint handouts, since we all spend a lot of time on our computers, even gaming online with one another. She is also very skilled with PowerPoint, already. Though, I cannot say that I ever would.
# posted by 
: 5:44 PM, November 07, 2005
: 5:44 PM, November 07, 2005Links to this post:
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