How much time should you spend with your friends versus your family
There nothing worse than planning a great night out with your friends when your mom reminds you that there's a family get together or party that has been planned for weeks that you're supposed to be at. This is probably one of the biggest tensions builders between teens and parents today. The battle over wanting to spend time with their friends' more than spending time with their family. And the funny things is that it really is a never ending battle. The older you get the more you feel like you have to go to those family things that might not be so fun, but everyone expects you to be there. So how much time should you spend with your friends versus your family? There may not be a perfect answer out there, but here are some tips on helping to find a good balance between them both.
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Tip #1: Plan ahead
The trick to finding a good balance between family time and friends is planning ahead. It sounds ridiculous right? Who needs to plan their days and nights around everyone else, but in order to maintain some sanity planning is the key. The best way to do this is to look through the calendar to find events that you know happen yearly. For example family reunions, family vacations, weddings, or other types of celebrations. You may have a family that just has to get together every year on the Fourth of July. So plan your schedule around that. Then once you have blocked out all the yearly activities you can plan by the month. See what's on the calendar for the month and schedule parties with friends, family dinners, birthday parties, etc. accordingly. Of course there will sometimes be last minute things that aren't planned or that come up but you can work with them if you know the general plan for the month.
Tip #2: Don't bail on anyone
No one likes a person that can't be trusted or counted on for something so try really hard (even if it's something you don't want to do) not to bail out on anyone. If you've said that you will go to a party or get together then just suck it up and keep your word. If your friends want you to skip out on a family thing but you know it would cause tension with everyone in the family then listen to your gut and just spend the time with your family. Remember that your family will always be there for you; friends come and go.
Tip #3: Bring friends and family together
There are times when it may be appropriate to have your friends and your family come together to all do something. If your family knows the friend and feels fairly comfortable around them then why not invite them to come along. Birthday parties, dinners, and other family get togethers are just as great a time to spend time with your friends as it is your family, especially if you have teenagers. Parents can get to know the friends better while they spend time with the family.
Tip #4: Establish strong relationships
No matter what any of your friends say, they probably won't be around your entire life like your family will and although they might feel like the most important people in the world right now, they're not. For teenagers it's important for family members to help establish strong relationships so they want to spend time with them. Choose some fun activities to do that you know they will like. Make them feel like spending time with you isn't a burden. The relationships you establish with your family members (in most cases) are the ones that will last a lifetime. So don't worry so much about impressing your friends, as spending time with the fam.
There is no set amount of time that you should give to your friends or your family. The only real thing to go off of here is that family will always be there, even when friends aren't. They love you for you, even when they hate you. So when it comes to who you should want to spend more time with, family takes the cake here.
