You're listening to TED Talks Daily. I'm Elise Hugh. When we think about politics, we often think about Congress or casting ballots on Election Day, right? But we forget that one of the most basic political units is the family. Sibling disputes or what we should eat as a family, where we should take trips.

They're all compromises and negotiations of power. In today's archive talk from TED Summit

2019, human rights activist Hajer Sharif shows how her regular family dinners growing up

taught her how to participate in politics to make decisions

for the household, even when she was a child. This is cool, and something we could all incorporate

around our own dinner tables. Twenty years ago, my family introduced a system called

Friday democracy meetings.

Every Friday at 7 p.m. my family came together for an official meeting

to discuss the current family affairs.

These meetings were facilitated by one of my parents, and we even had a note-taker.

These meetings had two rules.

First, you are allowed to speak open and freely.

Us kids were allowed to criticize our parents without that being considered disrespectful or rude.

Second rule was the Chatham House rule, meaning whatever is said in the meeting stays in the meetings.

The topics which were discussed in these meetings varied from one week to another.

One week we'll talk about what food we wanted to eat, what time us kids should go to bed,

and how to improve things as a family,

while another meeting discussed pretty much events that happened at school,

and how to solve disputes between siblings,

by which I mean real fights.

At the end of each meeting, we'll reach decisions and agreements

that will last at least until the next

...