Our prophet peace be upon him advised us that maintaining the ties of kinship also increases our wealth and life span. The most important of these ties is the parents. This helps motivate us because inevitably doing the things that are required of us will require sacrifice from our time and wealth which we would like to spend elsewhere.
The order of priority is as follows: mother, father, sister, brother and then direct family members like grandparents on both sides, uncles and aunties, nieces and nephews.
To maintain ties is when it is from our side, despite them not being bothered about us or not caring. If you are only being good to them because they are good to you, then this is reciprocating and not the same as maintaining the ties of kinship. Maintaining can be to different degrees depending on our ability and the needs of the relative, the least of which is not to abandon them and to greet them.
We should keep our family members happy, whether we like it or not, at all times.
Greet them with good conduct and do not show your displeasure with disagreements or when they hurt your feelings
It is important to remember Allah is the most merciful beyond our imagination and knows we will make mistakes and so we should do as much as we can, ie try to get near the goal and if you cant, know Allah is the most merciful.
You can even lie to parents and family members, to maintain relations if you cannot achieve through other means.
There are different levels of maintaining ties, with the minimum generally being not abandoning them and keeping in touch with them, even if it is by saying salaam.
