Happy families have strong family bonds. It is up the parents, as leaders of the family unit, to ensure that these bonds protective and solid. With all the day to day hustle it is easy to lose sight of each other and what is truly important. Family bonds are not just ones that you are born with. They need to exercised and develop over time. When families have a good foundation of these bonds, each individual family member is healthier, stronger and more confident. Children are more likely to excel in school and stay out of trouble. A family who has a strong bond has communication lines that are open making needs more easily met. The biggest key to strengthening family bonds is time. It is important to spend as much time with each other as you can. Here are some essential practices you can incorporate with your family to help build a firm foundation of a family bond.
Make it a point to eat dinner with each other. While each member may have a multitude of things going on in their lives, it is important to make dinner time a time within the day where you all can come together. Use this moment to find out what is going on in each other’s lives. Ask about your children’s friends, what they are interested in or what they are working on at school. Take an interest in their lives. With all the activities, school and work, dinner time is a great time to reconnect with one another on a daily basis. If dinner is a hard meal for everyone to be at due to activities, try breakfast. It is important to eat at least one meal with each other.
Schedule in family time. A family night is a great way to strengthen your family bond because you can incorporate an activity to do with one another. This can be as simply as spending time playing a board game, having a movie night in or taking a walk with one another. You can also give each child an opportunity to choose what they would like to do with the family. When we do activities with one another or go on adventures, this is when beautiful family memories begin. Plan it out in advance and have each family member have some input as to what they would like to do.
Do family responsibilities together. A family is like a team and each team member needs to feel like they are contributing to the good of the whole family. This is why it is important to divide chores and responsibilities around the house. Not only does many hands make work light, but it gives young children a sense of responsibility and contribution. Make a chore chart that lists all the tasks that need to be completed throughout the week. Then have everyone sign up for a couple of chores that they are responsible for completing that week.