4 Ways To Encourage Acceptance In Your Family

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Acceptance can mean a lot of things, and all of them are important in a family setting. Encouraging acceptance in your family is a part of building strong family relationships in your home, and it can also help develop everyone in your household into kinder and more accepting people in their outside lives as well. Acceptance is an ongoing process on both an individual and collective level, and making the effort to encourage it in your household can have so many benefits, even if it’s already a strong suit for you and your family.

Whether you’re making an effort to accept a specific situation or you want to create a more positive and accepting environment overall, making acceptance a priority in your household is a worthwhile goal. And the beauty is that there are so many ways to do it. While there are some techniques that work best in some families, it truly depends on each individual household what will work best for them. Here are just a few of the many ways you can begin to encourage acceptance in your family.

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1. Practice positive affirmations

Positive affirmations can do some much for any person and family. While many people know positive affirmations for their power in mood lifting, self confidence and other positive practices, they can be powerful tools in encouraging acceptance, both of others and the self. There are so many positive affirmations you can try, and there are so many different ways to use them — everything from putting them in the family group chat once a week to saying them aloud before a family meal.

Positive affirmations help to encourage a more positive outlook on life as well as promoting self acceptance, which promotes acceptance all around. Here are a few you can try together:

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• I accept myself unconditionally
• Our family is a team effort
• We can stick together through anything
• I am open to your opinions and ideas
• Family is a choice and a practice
• I trust you all to love and accept me unconditionally

2. Make the necessary accommodations

When it comes to acceptance not just of those within your household, but of everyone you want to welcome into it, making necessary adjustments and accommodations to make others feel comfortable can help you practice acceptance and get better at it as time goes on. Welcoming people of all different backgrounds, ability levels, experiences and lifestyles into your home is one of the most concrete ways to be accepting in your family. When it comes to doing it the right way, sensitivity is the key. Asking ahead of time if someone you know — or even someone in your family — needs any accessibility accommodations, uses different pronouns, has any dietary restrictions or other religious requirements can make all the difference in helping someone feel comfortable in your household.

3. Educate yourselves On different experiences

Sometimes, spending time with the members of your own family all the time can get you used to one specific thing, but it can be important to expand your knowledge and learn more about other experiences in the world. The people in the world around you have all lived different lives, and learning about them can make you a better, more compassionate and accepting person along with your whole family. There are so many ways you can educate yourselves on other experiences. From reading books and news stories to watching films and documentaries, it can be about finding whatever way you learn best and going with it. And this can help you all become more educated and accepting people.

4. Be Open to all the possibilities

Whether you’re a parent in your family raising children you love or a child looking to get even more perspective on your whole family picture, part of building an accepting family network is about being open to possibilities and changes in life. When you say you love your family unconditionally, it means truly unconditional love, even if identities and situations change. Being accepting as a family works both inside and out, and the beauty of that is the potential for changes and people living their truths to come to fruition without changing the strong foundation you’ve built. That means illness, disability, coming out and other changes will be met with love, acceptance and the necessary accommodations. When you love your family no matter what and already know how to be accepting, the other details can come with a lot more ease.

Building an accepting family

Encouraging acceptance in your family is about so much more than being nice to others — it’s about offering well informed, unconditional love to those around you, both inside and outside of your family unit. By practicing positive affirmations, offering accommodations and being accepting of the changes that come in your family and out, being accepting can make life better for everyone.