Family projects are a great way to get everyone involved and have needed family fun. It is important to foster the family bond and pull everyone away from their electronics once in awhile. There are many things you can be creative with and do and you can always scale it to your children’s ages and to their capability levels. It is fun to set up a family project once a month or bi-weekly (I find this is a cool time frame, because it gives you together time regularly, without bogging one down with overwhelming planning, prep time and so on). Every month you can choose a different theme project if you want, such as January-you could make cotton ball mini snowmen and February,-jazzed up Valentines day cards and so on. It doesn’t matter what you choose, as long as you keep it simple and make the effort to spend time with your family. These little things will turn into tradition and be the kinds of memories that your kids will remember and cherish as they grow throughout their life.
It is important in life to continually improve and maintain relationships, especially relationships between parents and their children. Family bonding time, is a time where the family spends time together meaningfully and on purpose. This time needs to be set aside to interact with each other, whether its over a group of activities or a major fun project. Keep it fun and keep it age appropriate and remember there are a lot of other benefits that go along with family projects and family bonding , it’s just not always about fun and games 😉
Family bonding can and does encourage family members to listen and work together as a team. Children watch their parents interact with each other and with the world and learn how to mimic and behave accordingly. This time, is a great time, to exercise manners, respect and love. Let your children see the patience you use with them so they learn to be patient as well, with others. Let your children see you communicate directions, so they can learn how to communicate well to others. Let your children see you listen, so they know you care and are really listening to them. Let your child see you being social and interacting with them and others, so they can model your positive behavior and attitude. Let them see you being kind and fun to let them know they can un-stress and unwind, just like us adults need to as well.
Promising and freely giving your personal time will help members in your family gain a sense of self worth, a sense of bonding and a sense of family. Children that have families that take the time with them, begin to understand the value of this time and hold on to it. I feel that children that do not have a sense of family, family morals or family values are more likely to be influenced by outside sources, people or certain friends and these people do not necessarily have their best interests at heart. This world can be a scary place, where people with bad intentions can be waiting right around the corner for a weak moment with our children. It is our job as parents o make sure our bonds are tight and that our children know they can come to use, trust us and rely on us to listen, communicate and help and I feel that family time helps enforces this.
I understand how busy life can be and some parents may or may not have trouble finding time to set aside, but I would encourage you to DO IT. Make the time. You will see a difference. Parents can get frustrated when it comes to communication and finding time and so can our children. Some parents may not know exactly how to communicate or express our feelings and some of our children are not open, or may the lack understanding between communicating well and listening. Family time can help eliminate some of the stress and frustration and can also serve as a learning time for both sides on how to interact with each other and properly learn to communicate and listening. We, as parents, need to make it a habit of displaying and showing interest in the well being of our children and hopefully this will instill in them, a bond that will make it more likely for them to come to us when they are having problems or struggling.
Families that encourage bonding time, can have improved home lives and overall be happier. It is nice to have times where us parents, do not have to compete with a computer, a game system, a television, a cell phone, sports, or other activities for our child’s attention and it can be equally nice for our children to not have to compete with things like jobs, errands, housework, cellphones for our attention as well. The experience of family time is a mutually beneficial one and can overall improve communication, the family bond and other important social skills such as learning, communicating, listening, and following directions. So get in there, set time aside and have fun!