We all love our families, but sometimes we can take each other for granted. Just because you all live in the same house doesn’t mean that you know what is going on in each other’s lives and how they are all doing. It is important to take some time to do things together. It can help to solidify your relationships so that your kids know that they can come to you in times of need, but you can also have more regular educational times, that can help your kids to develop good habits for the future. Below are a few things that you should try to do regularly as a family to solidify your bond, educate and create memories with your family:
Hang out together
This may seem easy but you and your family might not spend as much time together as you think. In this age of technology there is always something else to do. Your kids might be upstairs in their rooms on their computers or phone. You might be on your computer or phone. That is why it is a good idea to get everyone together to just hang out. You don’t need to do anything exciting. You could watch a film together, or find a series you all enjoy that you can watch every week. You can even incorporate the technology and play video games together. There are plenty of things that you can do that won’t make your kids feel like you are taking them away from what they might rather be doing.
Get your eyes tested
Now, this is not necessarily fun, but it is something that you and your kids should do regularly. Getting your eyes tested regularly is important. Unless told otherwise, you should get them tested at least every two years. Eye tests can check your prescription so that you can have it changed if it is wrong, which will improve your day to day life and can prevent you from getting headaches caused by straining your eyes. Eye tests can also help to identify any other underlying conditions that you may not know you have such as high blood pressure and diabetes. If you can pair this trip with one to an ENT specialist to check on hearing health, so much the better – detecting issues with your essential senses early and often is a good habit to get into.
If it turns out that you or your child need a new pair of glasses, it can become a fun trip. You can look at an eyeglasses buying guide to find out about buying glasses, and then have a lot of fun trying them on until you find the perfect pair.
Go to the dentist
The dentist is also not necessarily a fun trip, but it is important to their oral health. If you can make going to the dentist into something that isn’t scary, and that they are used to, it will set them up for going every six months. A checkup can make sure that everything is fine with yours and your children’s dental health, help to fix anything that might be going wrong, and teach everyone healthy dental habits.
You could take everyone out for a treat after they have been to the dentist. This will help you show that it can be a pleasant experience, and help to give them something to look forward to if they are feeling a little bit nervous.
Cook together
Cooking together can be great fun, but it is also an educational experience that can help to set your kids up for their future. How much they do will depend on their age, but even young children can help with something. You could take them through the whole process. Pick out a few recipes that they can choose from, take them shopping for the ingredients, and then work together to make it. Even if they just hand you ingredients, it will make them feel like they are really helping you out. It could even give them a newfound interest in food, and encourage them to try new things and eat more healthily. If you have a busy lifestyle, it doesn’t have to be something that you do all the time, but once in a while will allow you to have fun together while they learn and develop some essential basic skills. Cooking healthy meals together can also help protect you all from future illnesses such as non alcoholic fatty liver disease or heart disease.
Read together
Reading to your children when they are younger, is a good way to help them to get settled for bed, but it is also an excellent way to develop their love of reading and their imagination. It can also help everyone to learn to slow down and relax. Younger children can get excited about the book that they are reading and start to develop and improve their ability to read. It can also be a great way to spend quality time together.
Check-in with each other
Checking in with each other is really simple. You can ask everyone about their day when they come home. This is a great way to encourage everyone to open up with each other so that they can share what is going well, but more importantly, they will feel more comfortable sharing things with you when things are going wrong. This means that you will be there to help them when they really need it.
To make it a routine thing to share your day, it might be something that you do when you are eating your tea. It is a great opportunity to sit around the table, catch up, and talk to each other.
Exercise together
Exercising with your family doesn’t have to be anything crazy, but it should be fun and encouraging. Get everybody out and down to the park when it is nice outside. Run around and play football or catch. You could walk around the local area and turn it into an adventure to discover new places.
If the weather takes a turn for the worse, you can still fit in some fun exercise indoors. Put on some music and have a dance party with them, or play a more active video game. Showing them that exercise can be fun from a young age will encourage them to get involved and stay healthy.
Family traditions
Every family has its own traditions, and if you don’t have any, it might be nice to create some. People have their own birthday traditions, Christmas traditions, and other traditions that they do throughout the year. These rituals and traditions help to strengthen your family bonds and create an excellent environment for kids to grow up in. Even if it is something that you think is silly, it will be something that your kids will look back on with fondness when they get older.
Maybe you make each other banners on birthdays or have a movie night every month. Whatever it is will bring your family happiness, and may even become something that they carry on in the future if they ever have a family of their own.
Say I love you
Telling your family members that you love them and showing each other affection is very important. It can help you to stay connected to each other and reassure them that you care, even if they are a grumpy teenager that doesn’t want to hear it. It can make them feel valued and build up their confidence. It also helps to build trust between all of you and shows them how other people should treat them. Showing them what love is and how to be kind will let them know that they are being treated wrong if someone tries to mistreat them in the future. It will also let them know that there is always someone who will fight for them in their corner.
I love these! We do most of them and dentist is often every 3 months for us.
Good tips. My family falls into the taking advantage rut, too, sometimes. More hanging out time is always needed!
Family is very important and I have started to follow some of the things that you have mentioned. It is the memories that we make with families that last at the end.
I like how you included both fun and necessary activities.
Yes, I wish my family and I would spend more time together. I have grown so close to my daughter though, that we do everything together.
These are all lovely things to do together. It is a good reminder to find these ways to connect, especially in the age of electronics!
Yes i love all of them and we practice almost all. Thanks for sending that reminder
These are so important as a family or just a couple!
Love this – we do all these things! Everyone should!
These are great things to do together as a family. I am single and live by myself, but I bet you that families will find this list inspiring.
Yes, yes and yes!! Love all of these suggestions! We are a very together family. The only thing we don’t do together anymore is get our eyes checked. We are a family of 8 (we have six kids) and I found I had to go alone otherwise my younger kids distracted me too much and I would get inaccurate results, lol!
Expressing I love you is something that’s not common in my culture so I’ll definitely need to make sure to do that when I have my own family
These are all great ideas. We just started doing yoga at home as a family 🙂
we do say I love you make a point to say I love you to everyone
All of these seem simple, but with the fast paced lives we live, we tend to forget them. Thanks for sharing this great post.
I love reading together with my family. My mom started this with us daily when I was a kid and it’s stayed with me to this day.
We cook together and we create our own little tradition. Great post, all these will keep a family united.
Happy to report we do most of these.. Dentists are the only struggle as it’s hard to find a good doctor.
This is a great list. Family is very important to me and we actually do most of these things listed.
this is a really great list!! I think they’re all great ideas!
I strongly believe that our festivals were setup to strengthen our family bonds 🙂 It gives reason to eat together, exchange gifts, unplug from work and create new memories!
Personally, I am a huge fan of reading together, eating together and exercising together… I believe they bind a family!
getting together with family is very important. we usually try to eat together to keep the bonding!