5 Tips to Quality Family Time
Ã?· EAT BREAKFAST TOGETHER ONE MORNING A WEEK. Go all out! Make bacon, eggs, pancakes, biscuits, sausage, the whole shebang! You can make dinner light that night, and consider this the big meal of the day. Plan it for a day that is the hardest to all have dinner together. Determine who has to be out of the house first that morning and back up breakfast to include everyone. The first early morning may be rough, but push through the groans and complaints. It will pay dividends, and the fussing won’t last long. Make it clear that having quality family time together is worth the effort. It places a strong value on time together, and in itself is a lesson to the whole family, “time together matters!”.
�· PLAN A DESSERT NIGHT. Have ice cream sundaes one night and pie another, etc. Put it on the calendar for every other week. Plan for it when you go to the grocery store so that you have everything you need. Let each member of the family choose a dessert for one of the nights and tape the dessert menu and dates to the fridge. It serves as a reminder of the time together and gives everyone something to look forward to. Plan it for late in the evening, or just before bed so that everyone is home from their evening activities.
Ã?· GO TO CHURCH TOGETHER. Sunday mornings are generally easy on everyone’s schedule. The only sacrifice might be getting up before noon. But there are plenty of services that don’t start until 11 am and only last an hour. Statistics show that families that attend church together regularly are closer. The old adage is “They that pray together, stay together.”
�· PLAN A DAY TRIP. Where can you drive to in less than two hours? A theme park, a great fishing pier, a state park with trails, anything along these lines will be fun family time. It gets you away from the routine, the television, the computer, and neighborhood kids knocking on the. Pick a date far enough out that everyone can plan around it. If your children have jobs, they need time to ask for that day off. Talk with the coach if your family is involved in sports, and clarify the time that can be missed. Make it a priority in your calendar and the rest of the family will too.
�· CHOOSE A RESTAURANT. Pick a family favorite and plan once a month to eat breakfast, lunch or dinner there. Put it on the calendar well in advance and plan for it. Give it a simple name that everyone will associate the family date with. For example, if they have great wings, call it Wing Night. Remind everyone as it gets closer that Wing Night is coming. The idea is to have it planned and build it up as the time gets closer. Your family will recognize that it is important, just by the effort you put into it ahead of time.
Like most things in life worth having âÂ?¦it doesn’t come easily. That’s why it is so important to plan ahead to have quality family time. In five years, you won’t remember much about the day to day events of work, school, and activities. But your family will remember “traditions” that kept you close. And they will probably plan those kinds of family nights for their families in the future. Unfortunately, the clock is ticking and each day we come closer to our children heading off to college, getting married, and having their own responsibilities. Looking back on family night will be a great memory for everyone. Not to mention the impact it will have today, to bring your family in a little closer and enjoy each other’s company now, while you are all under the same roof.
