Happy family at computerThere is one main ingredient that binds together EVERY and ANY other principle that can be followed to build good relationships between parents and children.

(In fact see what Dr Wagner shared in his comment here: “give lots of hugs. Our twins would come and hug us immediately after we disciplined them. That’s a Message!.” (You can find Dr Wagner on Twitter at http://twitter.com/moneyinmarriage).

My answer to Dr Wagner’s comment: “absolutely!”

In fact love is the key ingredient for all Successful Relationships.

However, there is a misconception of what love really is and one of the places where this illusion is found is in the relationships between parents and children.

No matter how good a relationship may be, there will always be times when it will be neccesary to forgive. No human being is perfect, and one of the major things that destroys relationships is unforgiveness.

We need to understand that the real issue is not what happened to us, or what the person or group of people did to us, but rather what we did with the situation. Did the situation make us bitter or better?