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Family Team Building

Running a family is like running a business. A parent is often called upon, in the capacity of executive officer, to make tough decisions for the sake of the long-term health of the company. Quite often, these decisions are unpopular with the staff.

At times, whether delivering the Bad News to Emma about bedtime, or pinning a wriggling Stella to the mat with one knee in order to apply those curiously refreshing antibiotic eye drops, I can't help but feel empathy for those poor, beleaguered CEO's, forced to stick it to the rank and file in order to protect the integrity of the Mission Statement and their bonus.

By Jove, it's no popularity contest. From all the negative press, you'd think it's easy to outsource to a child-labor sweatshop halfway around the world, or to lay off workers by the droves, or to withhold a dessert for failure to consume a vegetable. It's no wonder that family morale sags dangerously from time to time, with disgruntled children moping about the house, cursing their lot in life and pretending to ignore a civilized plea to put some shoes on, right now.

A discouraged, disenfranchised Child Department can hinder the entire family's progress. What can a Homedaddy do to rekindle that old team spirit? They've got a solution to this problem in the business world. It's called "team building," and it involves hiring an outside company at tremendous expense to take the entire staff to a remote location to play summer camp party games.

Many of these activities are team oriented, and are designed to open everyone's mind to the subtleties of group dynamics; namely, that if you have too many idiots on your team, you will lose. Some of these games include an element of phony physical risk, so that you and your teammates can pretend that you are helping each other in the face of great danger. The most common version is called a ropes course, where cubicle dwellers are required to navigate a cat's cradle of climbing ropes suspended from trees or power poles. It sounds dangerous, but everyone is carefully harnessed in and it's impossible to fall too far without dangling like a salami in a deli window.

I actually participated in a ropes course at one of my past jobs. I must admit that seeing a bunch of co-workers hanging from ropes at substantial height did indeed give my morale a boost, although the feeling was quick to pass once they were safe on the ground.

My own observations notwithstanding, these programs are said to work wonders by the bigwigs that pay for them and especially by the companies that conduct them. This got me thinking that I should put my own expertise in family management to work and offer family cohesiveness seminars, complete with team building activities. I have just emerged from the Think Tank at the Homedaddy Research Instituteà where my panel of experts and I have just developed the latest in Family Morale Technology. Borrowing heavily from the jargon of the industry, we now present (trumpets please)ð

Homedaddy's Extreme Family Challenge!
Ask Yourself:
Is your family's MORALE a little "off" these days? Have your older children endured a DECREASE in skin-to-skin Mommy time lately because of newborn SIBLINGS? Has the family dinner table become a BATLEGROUND? Do you have a heartbeat and a CHECKING ACCOUNT?

If you answered YES to any of the above questions then you and your family are ready for the innovative and unique Family Challengeà Program developed by the Homedaddy Research InstituteÃ.

Parents must strategize, connect and trust each other, and communicate effectively while leading the family to growth, success, and profitability.

Performance, productivity, and leadership are still paramount and cannot be ignored. Give your family the opportunity to succeed with a jump-start by engaging in a customized Family Challengeà Program.

Our custom programs are designed to address the various difficulties facing young families today. Bedtimes, mealtimes, bathtimes, toy-sharing ð the sky's the limit.

We also provide specialized programs for the management of SIBLING RIVALRY issues!

Sibling rivalry doesn't have to bring everyone down. Parents, children, in-laws, and even domestic help in today's child-rearing climate are facing even greater challenges than before, as older children come to grips with ever-increasing performance demands in the face of severe cutbacks in Mommy time.

Each programs includes needs assessment, surveys, newsletters, speaking engagements, debriefing, and a follow-up plan.

Homedaddy Industriesà also announces a new Extreme Sibling Networking Program that is designed to challenge you as it connects you to your children and your children to each other. It's yet another performance-based program developed by the Homedaddy Research InstituteÃ!.

So don't miss out on this new wave of family management. Call the number on your screen and a highly trained Funds Extraction Technician will assist you.

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© Todd Pinsky 1998-2002. All rights reserved.