The family manifesto
How would you like life to feel and be, as a family? You can decide together and create a manifesto to refer back to.
Within neurodivergent families, the ‘rules’ might look different. There might be less rules on certain things like screen-time. Or firmer boundaries.
As we navigate life as neurodivergent families (all, or some members) in a neurotypical world, it feels important to create our own set of rules.
Or, if you don’t like the word ‘rules’, perhaps ‘ideas’ might work better.
Either way, creating a family manifesto is about sitting (or standing, or walking) together and having some fun as you think about what matters to you.
Both as a family, and as individuals.
Here are some prompts, to help you write your own family manifesto:
Which one word describes you as a family? (You can use this to write: We are a [insert adjective] family.
What do you each like doing? (This can appear as a list: We like x, y, z…)
When one of us is struggling, we …
It’s important that …
Our favourite family activity is … (or, if there isn’t just one, make it plural and compile a list)
We always aim to …
We forgive ourselves when …
We have the most fun when …
The hardest thing is …
We deal with that by …
The best thing about us is …
Have fun with it. You could draw it out, collage it or stick to words (on paper, or typed on the computer).
Love these questions Annie. Thank you 😊
The idea of a family manifesto is so critical to each individuals contextual identity for later in life, resulting from their family of origin