Ideas on spending quality time with family members
Spending family time together in this day and age is starting to become more difficult. With work days getting longer and less time to devote to children, homework, and even your own personal play time the family seems to be last on the list. They get what's left when you come home which probably isn't much, but it's time right? Well, believe it or not you don't have to have an entire day to spend some real quality time with your family. Quality doesn't always mean spending a lot of time together; it just means spending time that means something. Here are some ideas on spending quality time with family members whether you have five days, five hours, or five minutes.
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Read a book
If you have young children, or slightly older children reading is a great way to spend time together. Reading is a great way to give them all your attention while you learn and spend time together. Young children love to read with their parents, mostly because they can't do it themselves and they love to learn new things. If you have older children they may be able to read but will almost always take up the chance to have mom or dad read them something a little more difficult or help them read something they've brought home from school. The great thing about reading is that it can take you five or ten minutes, you can read with them for a half hour. Depending on your day and how much time you have this is a great way to show family members that you still have time for them and still care for them.
Meal Time
Dinner time is probably the most ideal time for a family to sit down together and talk about the day. Sometimes with late hours of work it's not possible to do so. That's why it's so important on the days that you are home to take time to sit down with your family and really get some quality talking time in. If you've got teenagers this is probably the one place you are going to have a chance to ask them about their day without feeling really threatened because they have a plate full of food in front of them. Take some time and ask them what' going on at school, with friends, or with an extra curricular activity. It may not seem like much, but it lets them know that you're still thinking about them even though you have a crazy work schedule and that you want to hear about their life.
Family vacations
This one will obviously take more than just five minutes of your day but if it is well planned and thought out it can really give you the quality time you have lost and need with your family members. Nobody can work every day of the year and with all that working you must have accrued at least a weekend to get away, so take some time and plan things out. Sit down with family members and talk about doing something fun for the weekend. Ask them for their input and see what comes out of the hat. If you enjoy camping then try that, if you have young children and have the money to go to Disneyland then do it. Or maybe you just want to take a quick trip to see some relatives and spend time together there. Family vacations are all about spending some quality time together so don't hesitate to take one. After all those extra hours at work you (and your family) deserve it.
You don't have to feel guilty about working long hours if you can come home and spend some quality time with family members. There are hundreds of ways to do it; you just have to be motivated. Pick a favorite activity, read a book, and just learn more about each other. Hopefully these ideas on spending quality time with family members will get the ball rolling.
