Children move on to start their own lives, relatives can move for work purposes and sometimes close siblings can fall apart due to life changes and circumstances that make it difficult to stay together as a close family. Your close family may eventually become distant family, so it’s a good idea to try and stay connected. In fact, staying in touch with extended family has plenty of benefits for younger children.
In this article, we’re going to talk about how you can stay connected with your extended family so that you never feel like you’ve fallen out with close relatives.
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Get together at a family reunion
Reunions are an excellent way to see your extended family after a long period of silence. If you’re the one that decided to start a family reunion plan then you better tell everyone at least half a year in advance. This will ensure that everyone has time to make it–no excuses. It will also allow you to pick out different family reunion venues if you all live far from each other and want to go somewhere nice and away from your homes. There might be catering planning, entertainment planning and also a lot of work juggling phone calls and invitations.
You’re going to meet up with family members that you’ve not seen for a while, and you may even be introduced to new faces. This can include newly married relatives that you’ve yet to meet, new children that were born recently or even new adopted relatives that are now a part of the family. This is a great way for your own kids to meet family members that are around the same age. Whether it’s a younger cousin that they can make friends with or an older cousin they can look up to, there are many positive benefits for kids to attend family reunions and meet their extended relatives.
It’s going to be overwhelming so expect a lot talking. You should also expect to answer a few difficult life questions especially if you speak to older relatives. They’ll likely ask questions like what you plan to do in life, when you’re getting married, and so on.
Stay connected over the internet
Gone are the days of calling your relatives at inopportune times just to get a hold of them for a chat to catch up. With the internet, you can now leave messages, see what they’re up to and stay connected as close relatives should. Social media is a fantastic way to get and stay in touch with extended family and distant relatives, and you can also use those platforms to help plan large events such as family reunions or even birthday parties that include friends of your family.
Social media is fantastic for both adults and the younger generation, but we recommend that you read through a guide to social media use for kids. Social media gives the younger generation a great way to seek advice from their relatives, speak to their cousins and see what their distant relatives and extended family are up to. It teaches them how to use the internet and stay safe, but it also allows them to stay social and learn more about their family.
