To spend quality time with your family should be your priority because one of the many things this lockdown has made us realise is that it is only our family who is going to stay with us forever, all the rest is either distant or temporary.
It is very important that we do quality activities with our family because it ensures strong bonding with family members and everlasting emotional connections. Family time can develop good self-esteem, emotional intelligence and most importantly a healthy state of mind since being in the company of people who love you unconditionally can reduce stress hormones. It also establishes that your home is a safe and supportive environment where you can be yourselves free of hesitation and judgments. Studies also show that a family who eats together has better chances of its members not indulging in substance abuse or any dangerous activities later in life. Moreover, spending quality time with your family results in the creation of memories which you can cherish when you look down the lane in the future.
While many of us spend time with our family daily, we seldom spend any family time. Most of us hardly leave our smartphones and computers to rest. As a result, we may be physically present for our families and but we are definitely absent cognitively. Many times we find ourselves out of ideas to spend quality time in our daily routines. Here are a few suggestions to spend quality time with your parents, children, partners, siblings or all your family.
- Invite family members to a game of cards, video games, chess, charades or Pictionary, whatever is your preference.
- Have at least one meal of the day together and indulge in simple chit chat, know what was the day of your family members like.
- Volunteer to help a family member with something he or she is doing. It can be anything, from homework to gardening.
- Play educational games with the kids at spend time in some fun learning. Explain a basic architectural principle while building a fort or make your kid keep an account of all the money in Monopoly.
- Plan a vacation together. Take inputs and suggestions from everyone to know and inculcate everyone’s interests in the trip itinerary.
- Watch a movie together. It can be an animated film, a horror movie or any genre of your preference. Sharing popcorn and opinions on the movie can be a fun activity.
- Go for a walk or a drive with your family, you can also eat ice cream on the way or stop to buy groceries.
- Do basic house chores together, you can do laundry, cooking, cleaning etc with your family.
- Go on weekly or fortnightly outings. You may go on a simple garden picnic with cheese sandwiches or visit a monument and admire the heritage.
- Click a lot of photographs and capture moments.
Only loving your family from a quite distance is not always enough. Occasionally indulging in the display of your unconditional affection through certain adorable gestures is not a bad idea at all. You can be poetic and write a poem for your loved ones to make them know how much you care about them. You may cook the favourite dish of your family members and declare your fondness with your culinary skills. You could also make for your dears, a short video or a scrapbook collecting photographs from memorable moments of special occasions, holidays or any other random moment you cherish. You can catch them off guard with your endearment by throwing them a surprise party and celebrate big and small achievements. Lastly, you can give them gifts, it doesn’t always have to be a huge article, it can be anything from a simple drawing to flowers.
