As a family, we love to spend quality time together and we make an effort to do so. It’s so important for the emotional, physical and psychological well-being of our kids to spend quality time together whenever we can. With the busy lives we lead, it can sometimes be hard to find time for it, but the benefits are so obvious
that it’s important to make the time. Here’s how we do it.
Make dinner time special
Turn off the TV, and chat! Eat together, with food in the centre of the table. If questions get answered with “yes” and “no”, change the questions to make them require a proper answer! Instead of asking, “Did you have a good day?” ask, “What made your day awesome?” Take dinner to the park, or have it on the lounge room floor on a picnic blanket.
Get outside and have fun
Playing catch, throwing a tennis ball, kicking a soccer ball, running under the sprinkler, playing limbo or hopscotch! Memory making and quality time doesn’t have to be difficult, it can be simple and fun. Choose a game everyone can be involved in and get playing. The laughter and giggles will come along with no problems, especially when mum or dad misses the ball or trips over (OK so it’s normally just me!).
Dance like no one is watching
You don’t need an excuse to dance in the lounge room, pop on your favourite songs and clear some space and get dancing. You can probably teach the kids some new moves, but they will be even more excited to teach you theirs!
Read together
Make time every night to read together. It only needs to be 5 minutes and it shouldn’t stop when the kids are old enough to read to themselves. Have a story that you are reading as a family and sit together to enjoy it.
Have a movie night
We use Saturday night for movie night at our place, either let them stay up later (or pretend to, by having dinner earlier which works well with little ones) and set the lounge room up for family movie fun. Let the kids pick the movie (rotate this so that everyone gets a chance to choose) and settle down with popcorn, some
Cottee’s Cordial and comfy cushions. In winter we bring in duvets and pillows to make a big snuggle couch on the floor.
Fill their hearts up
You don’t have to be together to remind your kids how much you love them! Pop a sweet note in their lunch boxes to remind them or do something cute like turning their strawberries into hearts. All the little things add up to making your kids feel loved and emotionally secure.
Spending quality time as a family doesn’t have to be difficult, expensive or a big amount of time. It’s the little, fun things that you do as a family that help to make memories and ensure that your kids know they are loved.
