How to Spend More Time with Your Family (7 Ideas that Work in 2024!)
We are always trying to find interactive and fun ways to spend more time with the kids. Not only are we busy with our jobs, cooking meals, and paying bills, but kids don’t always want to spend their time with us. They’re busy looking at their phones, scrolling endlessly on social media, watching TV, hanging out with friends, or just staying in their rooms.
Instead of letting TV shows, social media influencers, and internet forums mold how the kids see the world, I’ve found ways to spend more quality time together and strike a healthy balance between their online and offline worlds. It might not be easy at first, and you might need to start with limiting their screen time, but eventually, it will pay off.
7 Ideas for Spending (More) Quality Time With The Family
When you prioritize your family over other obligations, it shows the kids that you care. You don’t need to go on long, expensive vacations to spend quality time, even something seemingly small as an after dinner walk can have a major impact on the family relationship. The important thing to remember is that quality time doesn’t necessarily have to be a long time commitment, but it does need to be consistent.
Here are seven ideas that work in my house, and they should work in yours as well.
1. Have Family Meals with No Screens
Family meals are a great opportunity to enjoy your child’s company, hear about their day, ask questions about their interests, and tell them about your day as well. To make this work, there should be a firm rule that all screens must be turned off during mealtimes. To help you with that, here are apps that can restrict screen time for specific periods. Of course, this rule goes for the parents as well. If the kids see that you’re checking your phone, texting, or looking at social media, they will do the same.
2. Weekly or Monthly Family Outings
Incorporating outdoor activities into your family’s routine is crucial for physical and emotional well-being. Plan family trips to places everyone can enjoy: a local park, a nearby beach, sporting event, or even a day trip to a museum, it doesn’t have to be anything fancy or expensive. Not only will this help break the monotony of daily life, but it will also allow everyone a much-needed break from screens.
3. Schedule Family Game Night
Getting the whole family around the table to play board games, card games, and even some interactive video games help create a spirit of togetherness and fun competition. This offers an alternative to violent video games or potentially dangerous apps, and brings everyone together in a fun and engaging way. A family game night is not just about entertainment, but also teaches important life skills such as teamwork, strategic thinking, and fair play.
4. Create a Family Time Calendar
Between work, school, homework, late night meetings, and seeing friends, family time can easily get lost in the mix. A good way to avoid this is by creating a plan, such as a ‘Family Time Calendar’ that will detail activities for the week. Whether it’s displayed on the fridge or shared digitally, a family calendar keeps everyone on the same page and makes planning easier. The calendar should block out time for family activities, as well as clearly indicate when screen time is acceptable. Such a schedule reinforces the importance of quality time, making it less likely to be bypassed.
5. Help with Homework
Offering to help your child with homework contributes to their success but also gives you a chance to spend quality one-on-one time together. These homework sessions can turn into nurturing experiences where you understand the challenges and strengths of your child in different subjects. In turn, your child gets to see you not just as a parent, but as a guide and mentor.
6. Let Your Child Choose Their Activities
Children love it when they feel in control. Allowing them to choose the day’s or week’s activity can be incredibly empowering for them. Whether it’s choosing a game, preparing a special dish, or planning a visit to a place they’ve wanted to go, this can serve to make them feel valued. It also provides you with a unique insight into their likes and dislikes, facilitating a deeper connection. When kids are excited about the activity, they’re more likely to engage wholeheartedly, making the time spent more rewarding for everyone.
7. Start a Hobby or Project Together
Embarking on a new hobby or project can be a fun way to consistently spend quality time together. Whether it’s painting, gardening, or building something, a shared hobby provides a common goal and a sense of teamwork. These activities are excellent bonding experiences and they can also serve as educational experiences as well. They offer practical skills and virtues such as patience, perseverance, and the satisfaction of completing a project.
Child health experts agree that kids shouldn’t spend more than two hours a day in front of screens. Studies prove that too much screen time can affect their development, cause learning disabilities, cause obesity, and more. Instead of telling your kids to turn off the phone, tablet, and computer, give them some family fun alternatives that will make them forget about the screens and wait for your shared time together.
Quality Time Is Important – Use a Parental Control App to Enforce Family Rules
Spending quality time with the kids and setting an example for how they should behave is one of the most important things you can do as a parent. But it doesn’t end here. Unfortunately, there are plenty of bad influences that can impact the kids’s lives, and we can’t always be there for them. This is especially true for kids that spend unsupervised time online.
Installing a parental control app will give you peace of mind as it can monitor and filter the websites they visit, limit how much time they can be online, create a screen time schedule that blocks the phone or computer during school or bedtime, and show you their live location on a map.
I’ve tested more than 30 free and premium parental control apps, and Qustodio consistently proved to be the best. It has a comprehensive and customizable web filter with 29 categories, screen time rules, apps blocker, and a GPS that tracks the child’s location 24/7. You don’t have to take my word for it when you can try it free for 30 days, no credit card needed, and test all the premium features yourself.
