The Greatest Gift
Angela's welcome party was a happy event for many of her parents' friends and family. While everyone was celebrating her arrival into the world, Angela was asleep in her baby carriage, wearing the most beautiful angel outfit.
The pile of presents next to her baby carriage was huge and at the end of the evening, Sam, the old manager at the event hall, helped her dad, Ian, put all the gifts in the car.
"Bless her. She has so many gifts", the old manager said to Angela's dad while helping him to load a big pink box with curly ribbons.
"Yes, she does", said Ian excitedly.
Ian had been a bit worried before Angela's arrival. He had been looking forward to the delivery day but at the same time worried about providing for his family. The list of things a baby needs had been so big that during the party, he kept looking at the gifts and was happy to see them piling high.
"We really need all the gifts", Ian said to the old manager.
"Not really", smiled Sam, "What you need is something that can't be packed with ribbons", and he held up a toy that made a funny noise.
Ian looked at the old man, not really understanding. He stopped and looked at him in surprise, "What do you mean? What do we need?"
"One more toy, another nice dress or furniture will make you happy, but she needs something that cannot be bought with money", said Sam and handed Ian an envelope with a greeting card.
"This is your invoice. Thank you for choosing our venue", he shook Ian's hand, smiled and went back into the building, passing by Angela's mom, Louise, at the entrance.
Ian opened the envelope and took out a greeting card with a photo of a large golden gift box. He opened the card. The invoice was folded inside it. Ian took out the invoice and read the greeting, which was written in pink.
Congratulations!
The greatest gift your daughter need is something that requires persistence, dedication, love and commitment. From all the gifts in the world, what she needs most is the gift only her parents can give her, the gift of staying together and loving each other for many years.
Wishing you health and happiness,
Sam
Event Hall Manager
Ian folded the greeting card and put it together with the rest of the envelopes.
On the way home, Louise asked, "Did we get lots of gifts?"
"Oh, yes, we did", said Ian, "But one of them was the best gift of all. It's the envelope with the invoice in it".
Gal and I have made a decision that when we do not have a good answer to this question, we are in a big trouble and we need to urgently do something about it. By the way, the answers "We are still together because we are used to each other", "We are together for the kids", "We are still together because we do not have a better option", "We are together because we are afraid to be by ourselves" and "We are together because we do not think we can find a new partner in our age and circumstances" are really bad answers.
Share your money. Never keep separate bank accounts. This is a source of lots of difficulties and problems. A family is a single unit, to which everyone contributes what they can and from which everybody takes what they need. Whenever you start talking about "my money/your money" or "how much is house work worth?" you are entering the danger zone.
Never go to sleep angry. No matter how hard it is, always kiss and make up in bed before going to sleep. Tomorrow is a new day. Just "zoom out" and see your partner in the bigger scope of your life to remember his/her true value, then say "Good night, <insert affectionate term>".
When you fight about your kids, never say "Your kids" or "My kids" (even if your family is blended). Kids are equally yours and your partner's and so is the responsibility for their behavior…
Have Your Say
Thank you, good strategy.
This is really a great job to post tips for making positive relationship habits in families and couples behavior, this is very useful in resolving relationship conflict before it turns in to some serious argument. Marriage and family counselors treat individuals within the context of their relationships. By dissecting the family structure, a marriage counselor or family therapist can evaluate where the difficulties lie and establish a plan for resolution. Types of problems marriage and family therapists deal with are adolescent behavioral problems, bereavement, depression, domestic violence, infertility, infidelity, marital difficulties, substance abuse, parenting, child custody and divorce. http://www.marriage-counselors.net/
Hi owen,
Tell us what happened when you tried to implement it
Happy day
Ronit
The Motivational Speaker
Hi Marriage councilor,
Thanks for the links.
I hope readers will find it useful.
I agree, a marriage councilor can help many families make the best of their relationships but I have to say that over years of helping people,families, couples, parents and kids I have learned that "It is not about what I have to give them, it is about what they can take"
we need to focus on education that teaches people to take.
Happy day
Ronit
The Motivational Speaker