The Whole and Healthy Family: Helping Your Kids Thrive in Mind, Body, and Spirit

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When families sit down for a meal together, [2] rather than eating in “shifts” or grabbing food on the go, they tend to eat healthier things. Vegetables, fruits, and whole foods are more often consumed, rather than processed and fatty foods.

Elder G. H., Johnson M. K., & Crosnoe R (2003). The emergence and development of life course theory. In Mortimer J. T. & Shanahan M. J. (Eds.), Handbook of the life course (pp. 3–19). New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers. doi:10.1007/978-0-306-48247-2_1 [ Google Scholar]Thomas P. A. (2016). The impact of relationship-specific support and strain on depressive symptoms across the life course. Journal of Aging and Health, 28, 363–382. doi:10.1177/0898264315591004 [ PMC free article] [ PubMed] [ Google Scholar] As children and parents age, the nature of the parent–child relationship often changes such that adult children may take on a caregiving role for their older parents ( Pinquart & Soerensen, 2007). Adult children often experience competing pressures of employment, taking care of their own children, and providing care for older parents ( Evans et al., 2016). Support and strain from intergenerational ties during this stressful time of balancing family roles and work obligations may be particularly important for the mental health of adults in midlife ( Thomas, 2016). Most evidence suggests that caregiving for parents is related to lower well-being for adult children, including more negative affect and greater stress response in terms of overall output of daily cortisol ( Bangerter et al., 2017); however, some studies suggest that caregiving may be beneficial or neutral for well-being ( Merz et al., 2010). Family scholars suggest that this discrepancy may be due to varying types of caregiving and relationship quality. For example, providing emotional support to parents can increase well-being, but providing instrumental support does not unless the caregiver is emotionally engaged ( Morelli, Lee, Arnn, & Zaki, 2015). Moreover, the quality of the adult child-parent relationship may matter more for the well-being of adult children than does the caregiving they provide ( Merz, Schuengel, et al., 2009).

Umberson D., Pudrovska T., & Reczek C (2010). Parenthood, childlessness, and well-being: A life course perspective. Journal of Marriage and Family, 72, 612–629. doi:10.1111/j.1741- 3737.2010.00721.x [ PMC free article] [ PubMed] [ Google Scholar] Lee E., Clarkson-Hendrix M., & Lee Y (2016). Parenting stress of grandparents and other kin as informal kinship caregivers: A mixed methods study. Children and Youth Services Review, 69, 29–38. doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2016.07.013 [ Google Scholar] Umberson D., Williams K., & Thomeer M. B (2013). Family status and mental health: Recent advances and future directions. In Aneshensel C. S. & Phelan J. C. (Eds.), Handbook of the sociology of mental health (2nd edn, pp. 405–431). Dordrecht: Springer Publishing. doi:10.1007/978-94-007-4276-5_20 [ Google Scholar] But what would you do if your child flipped the script and asked you: “What did YOU learn today?” Could you give them an answer? Degeneffe C. E., & Burcham C. M (2008). Adult sibling caregiving for persons with traumatic brain injury: Predictors of affective and instrumental support. Journal of Rehabilitation, 74, 10–20. [ Google Scholar]Gilligan M., Suitor J. J., Feld S., & Pillemer K (2015). Do positive feelings hurt? Disaggregating positive and negative components of intergenerational ambivalence. Journal of Marriage and Family, 77, 261–276. doi:10.1111/jomf.12146 [ PMC free article] [ PubMed] [ Google Scholar] Williams K. (2004). The transition to widowhood and the social regulation of health: Consequences for health and health risk behavior. Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 59, S343–S349. doi:10.1093/ geronb/59.6.S343 [ PubMed] [ Google Scholar] Research on intergenerational relationships suggests the importance of understanding greater complexity in these relationships in future work. For example, future research should pay greater attention to diverse family structures and perspectives of multiple family members. There is an increasing trend of individuals delaying childbearing or choosing not to bear children ( Umberson, Pudrovska, et al., 2010). How might this influence marital quality and general well-being over the life course and across different social groups? Greater attention to the quality and context of intergenerational relationships from each family member’s perspective over time may prove fruitful by gaining both parents’ and each child’s perceptions. This work has already yielded important insights, such as the ways in which intergenerational ambivalence (simultaneous positive and negative feelings about intergenerational relationships) from the perspectives of parents and adult children may be detrimental to well-being for both parties ( Fingerman, Pitzer, Lefkowitz, Birditt, & Mroczek, 2008; Gilligan, Suitor, Feld, & Pillemer, 2015). Future work understanding the perspectives of each family member could also provide leverage in understanding the mixed findings regarding whether living in blended families with stepchildren influences well-being ( Gennetian, 2005; Harcourt, Adler-Baeder, Erath, & Pettit, 2013) and the long-term implications of these family structures when older adults need care ( Seltzer & Bianchi, 2013). Longitudinal data linking generations, paying greater attention to the context of these relationships, and collected from multiple family members can help untangle the ways in which family members influence each other across the life course and how multiple family members’ well-being may be intertwined in important ways. stars. I have some really mixed feelings about this book. If I had any clue of how insanely (psychotically?) crunchy she is, I probably wouldn’t have read this. As someone who values a healthy lifestyle, my jaw was constantly on the floor at some of her suggestions: Go on family walks or bike rides. Plan for weekend activities that involve play. When you have a family gathering for a birthday, organize a relay race before cutting the cake. It hasn’t stopped me, that’s for sure — by the time I was 70, I had already competed in 42 Ironman races. [11]