Spending time with your kids should not feel like a chore. Instead, it is something to be thankful you get to do and make the most of it while you can. While you likely are busy professionally, and your children might be busy too, family is one of the most important things in the world. So making the time for it is essential! In this post, let’s look at some of the ways to spend more time with your kids.
One family meal per day
One of the things that you can do as a parent to ensure that you are having quality time is to insist on at least one family meal per day. It will likely be breakfast or dinner, as these are most likely to be the times that everyone is at home.
Why is this so important? When the family regularly eats together, you can make sure they are eating a decent meal and catch up on the things that have been happening since you last sat down together. To cut down on cook time, you might whip up a meal quickly in the microwave.
This time at the kitchen table is a great way to stay involved in your kids’ lives. You’ll know more about what is going on and maintain a connection with them. A home built on the qualities of openness and honesty is a healthier one.
One games night per week
You don’t want all the time that you spend together to be rushed meals, though. So, encourage more quality time together by also having also a game night each week (or something like it).
Exactly what the activity is will depend on your family’s interests. It could be movie night, or whatever else you want to do, but the point is that everyone gets together for it. You can look at purchasing some dowdle jigsaw puzzles, board games, cards, and other fun activities.
Make the game night as entertaining as possible so that your kids want to be there instead of whatever other plans were on their minds. You might feel like yours are always trying to ditch you to hang out with their friends, and they might be. But, insist upon the night together and don’t relent because it’s something they are going to thank you for one day as they look back on the great memories.
Spend more time with your kids by working out together
The family that works out together, stays together. You want to make sure that everyone is as healthy as possible, so exercising as a family is a logical conclusion.
While I’m not saying you have to all head to the gym together, you can go for runs, complete workouts in the living room, and do fun outings like hiking. These activities provide much-needed exercise, and they can be a lot of fun.
Ensure that you cater to the different ability levels when you are planning things, though. Older kids will likely be able to do more than their younger siblings, for example.
Come up with fun days out
Finally, consider planning fun days out as a family. There are many options!
You can head to theme parks, explore your neighborhood and the surrounding areas, and much more. There is always going to be something to do as a family; you just need to look into it and plan out the experience.
A day out together might not seem appealing to your kids at first, but if you put the effort in and try to make it the best outing possible, they are going to appreciate the effort eventually. They might even start to look forward to it! Just make sure that you keep switching up what you do together and try new things, or else it’s going to get a little boring.
Takeaway on spending more time with your kids
Hopefully, this post provides suggestions you can use to start incorporating quality family time into your routine. There are plenty of ways to do so, depending on the different schedules in the house.
What’s most important here is that you take the time to spend as much time with them as you can because when they are older and move out, you are going to miss them. The activities together now can prevent you from having regrets later that you didn’t spend enough time with them as kids.