Every mom wants her family happy and healthy. This involves caring for the emotional, physical, and mental health of each member of the family.  Studies have shown that the greatest source of happiness in life is the family. The quality of family life influences every part of a child and an adult’s life. 

These 7 basic principles can help you to Build a Happy and Healthy Family;

1) Spend Quality Time:  Your kids regard your very presence as a sign of care and affection. Amid our busyness, our children can easily seem like an interruption but it's essential to spend as much time as possible with them. Be available to talk with them, help them, attend school events, and cheer them on in their various pursuits. Organize some time together as a family multiple times a week.  Perhaps, you could also eat as a family at least three meals a week. This will provide an opportunity to connect and talk about important issues and fun topics. Be creative about how you spend regular one-on-one time with each kid for personal bonding and connection. 

2) Express Love, Warmth, and Encouragement:  Moms who build their families with love create a home where children and spouses feel more secure. Avoid using words and actions that stimulate children to think that they aren't loved or precious. Instead, aim to make your children feel accepted, appreciated, listened to, loved and confident by letting them know that you believe in them. Invest more energy in praising them for being successful than in criticizing and castigating them for falling short of your expectations.

3) Communication is Key:  Make a habit of paying attention to your kids whenever they share their thoughts and feelings with you.  Likewise, figure out other ways you can best convey your love to your kids in a way each of them will receive well and admit guilt when you made a parenting mistake. Allow the disputes you experience with your spouse and kids to be a path to deeper communication. This will help you all to understand each other better and work as a team to solve problems. Lastly, understand the importance of non-verbal communication and cues in building a bond with your family. 

4) Take care of your Health and Well Being: It is important to create healthy habits early on. Children copy their parents, hence it’s important to be a good example. Exercise, healthy eating, rest and hygiene are essential for good well-being.  

5) Discipline with Consistency: Rather than thinking of discipline as a punishment, you should use it as a way of teaching your children how to meet their needs. Set and communicate healthy boundaries about doing homework and chores, telling the truth, talking respectfully, and other issues and follow through with consequences when they make poor choices. When you're disciplining them, restrain from nagging, minimize physical discipline, choose your battles wisely, and show empathy.

6) Build Healthy Morals and Values: Actively build healthy values together. Families that set clear morals and values for themselves and their children are happier. Make sure your children know and understand the family rules including cleaning, dishwashing, and other rules. Talk openly about issues such as sex, alcohol and drugs in an age-appropriate way. Be familiar with what they watch on TV and in the movies, what websites they visit, what music they listen to, and what video games they play.  

7) Play Together: This is a fun way to foster family togetherness. Make time for holidays together, have fun at home, go on frequent outings (from going shopping to going to sports and ballet lessons together). Playing together is a powerful way to build lifelong memories. Encourage the kids to stay clean and freshen up after each outdoor playtime using Dettol Cool and Dettol Antiseptic Liquid.

Remember, every family is different, so you may need to customize the following tips to fit your life and needs, but doing so will pay off for you and everyone in your family.