Author Michelle Stewart has a conversation with readers about some of the things that make a happy home. Drawing on previous work in Declutter Your Life, De-Stress Your Life, The Frugal Life, and The Beautiful Home, Stewart looks at some commonsense approaches for making family life more enjoyable, no matter what your family looks like.
In the busy pace of most modern homes, it can be easy to lose sight of important things such as values and quality time. Stress, schedules, and stuff often take a front seat, pushing more important things including relationships to the back. Stewart offers actionable advice on how to reclaim things that may be important to your family and explores ways that any family can improve quality time and overall happiness. From managing time to organizing the physical space in which you live, The Happy Family offers ways of restructuring your life for positive impact.
Basic good ideas for every family “The Happy Family” has a lot of ideas for families looking for ways to have more quality time together, and improve family relationships. While some of the ideas are commonly known (such as a family movie night at home), there are many ideas you might not expect, such as how the environment – decorating and cleaning – can contribute to family happiness; financial management (key to harmony at home); and the importance of adult time for parents (something that always seems to take a back seat). There are even some ideas for engaging everyone when there is an elderly adult living int he home, something that isn’t always considered when talking about “happy families”.I think some sections could have been fleshed out more, like the financial management section could have had more to say about allowances, or spending money together on events and not just living frugally (for instance, what would be fun family activities to teach kids how to manage money). All in all, though, this book is very accessible and has something for everyone looking for new ideas to enjoy together as a family.