Quality Family Time

With today’s busy lifestyles, many parents and grandparents want to spend more “quality” time with their children or grandchildren but they worry about how to go about it and what to do.

So what is quality time?

“Quality time” is time spent doing a simple activity that is meaningful and fun for everyone. It’s a time when family members really get to know each other and is all about relaxing, talking, listening and sharing time together.

Spending time with children can be fun and educational as much for them as for us and it’s in the simple, everyday and ordinary things, that step families grow together.

Children learn about family life from the time they spend in their own families. They learn about birth and caring for another little person when a new baby arrives home from the hospital. They learn about loss when a family member or pet dies. They learn about marriage, relationships, divorce and building a step family, by watching and observing you. They learn about tolerance, patience, kindness and compromise all from being part of a family.

A personal investment in time with your children is much more important to them than any toy, video game or electronic gadget. Here are some great and creative ways to get together with your kids in a positive way.

8 Ways for Step Families to Spend Quality Time Together

1. Eat together

Life is busy, hectic and demanding and many families struggle to find time to interact together but one simple activity that brings you all together easily is to plan some mealtimes together. Eating together is a place to chat, have fun and to stay actively involved in everyone’s lives. It also builds the “we” mentality and “team spirit” of a stepfamily. So why not invite grandma and granddad round too and have a BBQ?

2. Tell them a story

Children of all ages love a good story and it is a simple and fun way for you to invest time in their lives.  Become a great storyteller and enjoy making believe with your kids. Here is a list of the best 100 books from toddler to teen to get you started!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3670594/100-books-every-child-should-read—An-introduction-by-Michael-Morpurgo.html

3. Plan a picnic

During the spring and summer time, kids love to be outdoors with you as a family. Have fun planning a family picnic and getting your kids involved with choosing and preparing the food, as well as organising the fun and sorting out the games. It creates memories that help build your stepfamily bonds naturally and easily.

http://fatherhood.about.com/od/activities/a/summervacation.htm

4. Turn off the TV

Sitting together and watching TV is entertaining, and sometimes educational, but it doesn’t encourage quality together time and lively proactive interaction and conversation. So turn off the box and chat – and get to know each other slowly and gently.

So Start a Family Night and set aside one night each week to be together as a family and put it in everyone’s  diary, and once it’s scheduled, protect it like gold dust. This means saying no to the last minute birthday party your daughter gets invited to, and saying no to your boss when she asks you to work late!

Plan some fun activities and let everyone come up with ideas and you’ll be amazed at the things you learn and how much you’ll laugh and this is a very easy way to build and develop your relationships naturally and simply.

http://fatherhood.about.com/od/activities/a/turnofftv.htm

5. Grow a garden

Get outside and get your hands dirty! Explore the world of gardening and find ways to involve your step children in this interesting and positive activity from sowing and nurturing seeds to planting a rockery. It’s all about finding different ways to connect with your step children and for them to find out and discover more about you – so indulge and share your hobbies and get interested and curious about your step children’s hobbies and music.

http://fatherhood.about.com/cs/activities/a/gardening.htm

http://fatherhood.about.com/od/holidayresources/a/familymeals.htm

6. Help with homework

Sitting down with your step child to help them with their homework helps them feel supported, nurtured and cared for and will encourage your step child to develop positive attitudes to learning, in and out of school as well as see you as a helpful role model.

http://fatherhood.about.com/od/homeworkresources/a/homeworksecrets.htm

7.  http://fatherhood.about.com/cs/activities/a/Winter_Ideas.htm Spend time together. Go on a bike ride together, visit an airport and watch the planes take off and land, learn to play golf, try bowling, or look through old family photo albums, or videos to bring back great family memories. This will show respect, interest and will build the bonds and memories of your own new family traditions together.

8. Cook together: having the kids help in the kitchen can be great family time and you might just be surprised how much help they can be and how much fun you can have. You have to be careful naturally about hot surfaces and knives but as they grow why not make your own homemade pizza and give it your own unique family name?

Quality time is an essential tool for building a happy successful and positive family and it isn’t actually about what you are doing but it’s about how you’re doing it.

So relax, have fun and build memories that last a lifetime.