So how can we build and maintain good relationships? I believe there are several key things we can do to develop strong, lasting bonds with family that will last us a long time.

Communicate:

The first thing we can do is to learn to communicate. Learn how to effectively communicate your thoughts and ideas in a way that other people clearly understand. If you do, there is little room for misunderstanding, relieving stress in our relationships.

But communication is not just a one-way street – you talk to someone else. We also have to know how to listen. In fact, listening to others can be more important that talking. If you are a good listener, other people will believe you really care about them, which builds a level of trust that is critical to your relationships.

Common Ground:

Another way to build relationships is to find things you have in common with someone else. Some of my best friendships have come out of meeting someone and then finding we share a common interest in books, animals, sports, or travel. Once you find that common ground, it’s easy to start building a relationship that all parties enjoy.

My sister and I had an early common bond through animals. We both love dogs, and shared a family responsibility to take care of our Cocker Spaniel, Lady. We found out quickly that if we worked together, we could get our chores done, and still have time to enjoy playing with Lady. Even though I didn’t get the “fun job” of house training the puppy and teaching her new tricks, I still enjoyed being around my older sister, and going on walks together around the neighborhood with Lady leading the way.

Taking care of her needs brought us closer together. We still tell stories about those times – visiting neighbors, exploring the woods, and just getting outside – all because of our dog. Even though we are grown, we still remember our “Lady” and the special bond she created between us.

What relationships are most important to you? How can you strengthen them?

Jane Warren loves her family, and her animals, and is thankful that the two blend so well together!! She enjoys writing about insights into a variety of family and pet-related topics. Her website, PamperThePets.com offers tips and reviews on popular products, like Greenies treats for dogs, and other healthy treats.

Journalist Meg Cox, an expert on family traditions, writes “Ritual in general, all the little and big things we do together as families, works as a safety net, a security blanket, and an ongoing promise of protection.” (From The Book of New Family Traditions) Some of us observe rituals our parents kept when we were growing up. Others are inspired to create new traditions by living among people in other cultures or friends we admire or books we’ve read.

How To Make New Family Traditions

When my oldest child started school, he was overly concerned about making mistakes. The occasional “yellow card” or frown from a teacher for talking in class filled him with angst as a five year old. I decided to reward him for “coloring outside of the lines,” so to speak.

All through elementary school when he missed a word on a spelling test or was reprimanded by a playground supervisor, I took him out for ice cream. A root beer float soothed the sting of having made a mistake and, I hope, helped him realize that messing up isn’t the end of the world. Now, as a teenager, he takes setbacks in stride. Did the ice cream ritual help? I’ll never know, of course, but I have a hunch it did.

That ritual, I should note, only applied to my oldest; his younger brother or sisters never received ice cream after getting bad grades or into trouble at school.

The traditions we keep, then, don’t have to apply to every person or situation. Some rituals are ones my family keeps most of the time—sometimes sports schedules, the weather, or other factors keep us from them.

And that’s okay.

Cox writes, “In family ritual, perfectionism is the enemy. The more outrageously imperfect a ritual is, the more kids love it and remember it.”

Wishing you joy as you invent and maintain your own “outrageously imperfect” family traditions.

What are some of your favorite family traditions?

Big thanks to Meg Cox, author of The Book of New Family Traditions: How to Create Great Rituals for Holidays and Every Day to permission to quote her work. Read more about Meg or subscribe to her free traditions newsletter at megcox.com.

Parenting writer Jennifer Grant’s first book, “Love You More: The Divine Surprise of Adopting My Daughter” was published in August 2011. Her second, also a memoir, is titled “MOMumental: Adventures in the Messy Art of Raising a Family” and will be released in May 2012. “MOMumental” is a “humorous and candid memoir that shows would-be supermoms how to create a realistically balanced family life without losing their minds.” Find Grant online at jennifergrant.com.

1. Write a list of ten questions you’d like to know about a family member or friend and schedule an interview with them to get to know them better. Encourage your children to interview someone they’d like to get to know better as well. If they are younger, help them create the list of questions.
2. Write a note to a family member or friend, telling them how much you appreciate, love, or admire them. Use your talents in drawing, painting, stamping, hand writing, letter writing, or your favorite form of creativity to put your personal stamp on the card.
3. Involve your family in putting together a progressive dinner right within the walls of your own home. Assign each person to be in charge of a specific room and portion of the meal. Work together to make the meal and set up the rooms. Award prizes for most creative, yummiest, most colorful, etc.
4. Welcome your spouse home from work or your children home from school with a picture or note on one of your windows or mirrors using Crayola’s window markers.
5. Encourage your children to welcome their mom or dad (or both!) home from work or other outing by helping them write a love note using Crayola’s sidewalk chalk on the driveway.
6. Have a family art gallery night where each of you prepares a drawing, painting, photograph, Model Magic sculpture, or other artistic project and showcases it for each other. Award participants with certificates or ribbons, indicating most creative, best use of color, best use of black and white, best use of emotions, etc.
7. Encourage your children to get to know their grandparents better by having them record (through audio and/or video) an interview with them about what life was like when they were growing up. Help your children prepare the questions, get the recording equipment ready, and set up an appointment. Then help them put together the audio/video project and share it with the rest of the family, including their grandparents.
8. Have a girls’ night out that’s a blast from the past with activities like finger painting, running through sprinklers, jumping on the trampoline, or other fun things you enjoyed as a child. Make sure to feature your favorite childhood snacks and drinks. Tang anyone?
9. Have a “walk down memory lane” party with your family, your friends, other couples, or others where you all bring photo albums and share your favorite memories. One fun group date is to all bring your wedding photo albums and each take turns sharing favorite memories from your wedding and your newlywed years.
10. Schedule a family coloring night, where you each choose a favorite page from a coloring book or your own coloring books and color together while chatting and enjoying your favorite snacks.

How Will You Give to Others This Week?

• What other ideas do you have for strengthening your relationships this week using creativity?
• What are things that get in the way of strengthening your relationships using creativity?
• What are ways to overcome these challenges?
• How has strengthening your relationships this week using creativity others made a meaningful difference for you? For others?

How Else Can You Make a Difference This Summer?

Make a meaningful difference this summer by taking the Summer of Service (SOS) Challenge. Here’s how you can participate:

• Commit to do one act of kindness/service based on the week’s challenge.
• Leave a comment with ideas relating to the week’s challenge as well as your experience(s) performing it.
• Grab the SOS button in the sidebar and put it on your blog or social networking site.
• Enter to win each week’s giveaway. Click here to check out this week’s prize from Crayola.
• Join #gno this Tuesday on Twitter to connect with other Mom It Forward moms about the challenge.

One of the most uplifting random acts of kindness is a simple smile! A smile can be the start to a meaningful relationship. It makes friends out of strangers, welcomes loved ones, and makes others feel right at home. Smiles are reassuring, loving, and giving. They are appreciated in the present and enjoyed again and again in the past through photography.

As part of this week’s Summer of Service Challenge to “Smile,” Kodak is giving the gift of photography.

Giveaway Prizes

Two lucky winners from this site will be selected to win one of the following prizes: a Kodak digital camera (click here to see specs) or a Kodak wireless digital photo frame (click here to see specs).

Entry Requirements

To enter to win, you are required to do the following two things:

1. Join and post a picture of your favorite “smile” picture to the Mom It Forward Flickr group.
2. Leave a comment on this post by Sunday, June 28 at midnight PDT, including your e-mail address and links to/information about your extra entries, if applicable.

To receive extra entries (for a total of three extra entries):

• Take this week’s SOS Challenge to Be Prepared by completing one of the post’s 10 suggestions or an idea of your own that fits within this week’s theme and leaving a comment on that post.
• Click here to join the Mom It Forward Facebook Page. (This is different than the group!)
• Post about this giveaway on Twitter and/or on your Facebook wall.

The Fine Print
No purchase necessary to enter. Winners will be selected randomly through http://random.org. Kodak employees and Mom It Forward family members are ineligible to participate. All entries received after Sunday, June 28 at midnight PDT will not be considered. Entries that do not follow all of the entry requirements will not be considered.

The fabulous Ria and Suzanne from My Mommy Manual and in partnership with Mom It Forward and the 12 for 12K team, are throwing the pajama party of all pajama parties and you’re invited. In support of our 6-week focus on charity, service, and giving, they are raffling off a wide array of prizes with the proceeds going to Yehu Microfinance, Basa Body, and Coast Coconut Farms. Click here to enter to win!

What’s more? Guy Kawasaki is joining in on the fun! After all, what’s a pajama party without a GUY? Join us Tuesday, April 14 from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. eastern (8 CDT, 7 MDT, & 6 PDT) to chit and chat about tips for entrepreneurs—starting and running your own business and using social media to do it.

Guy Kawasaki is a managing director of Garage Technology Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm and a columnist for Entrepreneur Magazine. Previously, he was an Apple Fellow at Apple Computer, Inc. Guy is the author of nine books including Reality Check, The Art of the Start, Rules for Revolutionaries, How to Drive Your Competition Crazy, Selling the Dream, and The Macintosh Way. He has a BA from Stanford University and an MBA from UCLA as well as an honorary doctorate from Babson College.

When: Tues., Apr.14 from 9 pm to 1 a.m. EDT (8 CDT, 7 CDT, and 6 PDT)

What: Girl’s Night Out (What’s GNO? Click here to find out!)

Topic: Tips to Starting & Running Your Own Business—in conjunction with our charity to fight poverty in Kenya (Yehu, BasaBody, Coast Coconut Farms)

Where: Tweet Grid (use the #gno hashtag)and on UStream


Who: @guykawasaki, @riasharon, and @zenmommy

RSVP: Use Mr. Linky below (enter the twitter URL and your twitter ID (e.g., http://twitter.com/jyl_momIF). If you would like to include your blog, please enter it next to your name. Make sure to include your twitter URL in the URL line. Please do not enter your blog URL there.

How Do You Enter to Win the Giveaways?

My Mommy Manual has rounded up nearly $5,000 in prizes. Check out this short video below to see how to enter!