by Shelley Heaphy
Life is busy, weeknights are filled with homework and activities and so are our weekends. That’s why we need to carve out time to do family things and include them on our calendar. Make them part of your monthly schedule, if weekly is impossible.
Making time to spend as a family is important to keep the lines of communication open between children and parents. If you start making time to listen to your children early, hopefully by the time they are older and need your input on really important decisions they’ll come to you for help. (We can hope right?)
There are many ways that a family can come together. Here are a few suggestions that are easy to implement.
Supper Time:
Growing up, like it or not, every night we sat down as a family for supper. It gave us the opportunity to share something great or (awful) that happened in our day, it allowed us to connect in an otherwise crazy life. We took the phone off the hook (in the days where phones were on the wall) and spent a half hour together. This gave my parents a tiny glimpse into all four of their daughters’ lives. Later on, I promised myself I would practice the same supper time routine with my family. Realistically though, it’s not always possible. With hockey practice, piano lessons, late work shifts and tutoring a supper time that suits everyone is not always practical. If this is the case in your home maybe try to choose one night a week that is set aside for family supper night. A time for the family to catch up on the week, on all of the great accomplishments made, on all the funny moments…In the old days, we took the phone off the hook, nowadays make it an “electronic free” supper time. Take time to listen to each and every story and enjoy each other’s company.
Game Night:
This can be anything from an evening set aside playing monopoly to a night set aside for cards. Depending on how many people in your family you can let each person choose their favourite game to play that night or you can choose out of a bag if there’s only time for one or two. You can make your favourite snack and spend some time playing and laughing. Game nights are also great to help you relax and just enjoy spending time together. Yard sales are a great place to load up on games you haven’t tried before. There are some amazing ones out there that you probably have never heard of.
Girls/Boys Night:
Although this is not time for the whole family, it’s nice to take time for mom and daughters to bond and dads and sons (of course the reverse is also just as important.) If you have time set aside both parties will be looking forward to those moments when they can share special moments that have happened to them, when they can shine their love on just that one little person. No matter how hard we try, there are always many pressing things and so scheduling this uninterrupted time together can really help keep the lines of communication open and help ease any tension any children are feeling. I have found this method to work really well when integrating a new family member into the household. The smiles are so real when there’s time for just one little one and their momma or daddy.
These are just a few ideas of how to spend some quality time together. Regardless of how you do it, do it and enjoy it.
