Family-life

Title: Tips for Increasing Family Harmony

 

Subhead: Activities for the Whole Family that Will Bring Everyone Together

 

Keywords: family, kids, parents, activities, fun, harmony, game night, movie night, book club

 

Families are living organisms. Each member of a family has his or her own personality, schedule, interests, etc. This can make it difficult to pin everyone down for family time, a time just for bonding and sharing with one another. But it is important to do so to maintain family cohesiveness and harmony, for parents to stay involved in their children’s lives. No matter what age your children are, there are a few things you can do to keep the family together that everyone will enjoy.

 

1. Book Club: Create a family book club. Get together once a week to read passages, taking turns who gets to read, and discussing the book. For families with young kids, you can make it a storytelling night and read the whole book as a family. Alternative who gets to choose the book and make sure the books are age appropriate for everyone in the family. If you choose a book that has a movie version, watch it after you talk about the book and then compare and contrast. This activity will get everyone’s intellectual juices flowing and will be a great way to get the kids talking and open up lines of communication. See if you can get the kids to draw associations from the book to their real lives. This is a way parents can get a window into what is going on with their kids without prying.

2. Game Night: Everyone loves a good game night. Games should be family friendly and age appropriate. Try not to make it too competitive. This is about having fun and enjoying time together as a family. You don’t want someone to end the night with their feelings hurt. It can be any kind of game from a board game to something you make up yourselves. Make it interactive and loose. You will probably never laugh more with your family then you will on game night. Try to make it a once a week or biweekly event.

3. Movie Night: Movies are a great way to connect with people. When you meet someone new, one of the first things you’ll probably talk about is what kind of movies they like and this is a great way to see what you have in common. It works for families too. Movies bring us together. Pick a night each week for the family to sit down and watch a movie. Set yourselves up with some popcorn and drinks, dim the lights, and take an escape to fantasy land. Everyone should get a turn to choose the movie. You can also do this with binge watching your favorite TV shows. Do it together as a family. Then stay together afterwards to talk about it.

4. Family Dinner Night: I’m not talking about Friday night dinners in the Gilmore household. Family dinner night means you cook as a family, set the table as a family, eat as a family, and clean up as a family. You can assign everyone a role or just go with the flow. Plan the menu ahead of time and shop for the ingredients together. Let everyone be involved in the kitchen. Make it a multi-course meal or just a simple dinner and sides. Go as big as you want and don’t worry about the mess because you will have extra hands to help with the dishes. Eat family style, passing the plates around and filling everyone’s up. Sit down at the table together and talk.

5. Adventure Night: On adventure night, anything can happen. You can be whisked away on a trip. Wind up in the middle of an epic mini-golf battle. Anything. Anywhere. The point is to get up, get out, and get going. Just go do something as a family. Let your minds go wild and take you to a place you never imagined.

Image by Ashley Nicole on Flickr Creative Commons.