15 Great Ideas for Family Bonding

Spending quality time with family and loved ones can improve social skills, boost children’s confidence and increase feelings of happiness. Rules, responsibilities, schoolwork… and the day-to-day grind can prevent us from enjoying life as a family and easily grow apart. You can stop and choose to take a moment to laugh and enjoy your family, but it may require planning.

No matter what, all kids will experience some struggles. However, families that laugh and have fun together seem to work through difficulties more easily. They come back to solid, caring relationships over time. Joyful connection is the superglue of families. You get to know the importance of family when you spend time together.

Your family bonding becomes stronger when you spend time doing activities together. Below are 15 ideas you can do with your family and loved ones. Some of these family bonding activities will take you a few minutes. Others are all-day outings. But all of them share a single goal: laugh, have fun, and empower your kids to act like children who know they are loved and secure.

Reduce stress in our family life

Life is stressful, and sometimes this stress comes from ourselves. To reduce stress in our family, we have to be willing to adjust our expectations and embrace a “different kind of normal.” Being a “perfect parent” isn’t the goal. Our goal should be to love our children the way they need to be loved – the way God has called us to love so that we can create a strong family bond.

Limit screen time

Our family is inundated with various “screens” — television (now with nonstop kids programming), Netflix available on multiple devices, and video games on the Wii, Playstation, Kindle, and iPhone. But with added screen time, the kids are losing time for imaginative play and family bonding time. Just being in the same room is not enough for family bonding when there is no interaction.

Make family devotion time a priority.

Make some of your time for family rest everything will fall in place. Bonding with your children is as much important as any other work you just need to be consistent. Kids will always remember this consistency and appreciate the time together. It hardly matters if you missed one day just try it to make a priority and soon it will become a habit.

Cook Together

There can be no better family bonding activity at home than cooking together. Cooking is therapeutic, making it a great activity to release stress and build connections between yourself and your kids. Cooking together is an activity many families do together. Decide on a recipe that you all love and can work on it together that will help you strengthens the relationships between parents and children. Children who grow up cooking are often better prepared for later life responsibilities.

Go Camping together – even if just in your living room!

Camping with family is a great way to re-connect with each other through a shared experience. When parents go to work, and kids go to school on a daily schedule, family members experience separate realities. But sharing the same tent, RV, or cabin on a family camping trip has a way of uniting and strengthening family bonds.

Exercise as a family

A healthy family is a happy family. Exercise comes in all shapes and sizes. You can walk or go jogging, play a sport together, do strength training or even take dance classes together. You can spring for a gym membership or find inexpensive or free activities outside the gym setting. When you are exercising with family you are working as a team to achieve a common goal. Exercise not only improves health but increases self-confidence and reduces anxiety in children. It will make the family unit stronger.

Schedule family game nights

A perfect way to spend valuable time together is with a family game night. We all needed the most a moment of healthy connection with someone we love to help us pull out of the nosedive. To get the whole family back on track, you need an emergency dose of a whole family connection. Look out for new family bonding games! whatever your age range is, there’s a game you and your kids will love.

Read together

According to a study, reading significantly helps brain development and encourages a strong, emotional bond between parents and their children. Therefore, it is vitally important to nurture family reading habits at home. The time spent together reading fosters healthy relationships and allows you to engage in not just fun, but also meaningful conversations.

Volunteer together

Volunteering as a family helps to set a tone of service within your household, instilling in everyone a desire to serve and make a real difference in others’ lives. It’s also a practical way to invest in your community. Finally, it makes for a unique bonding experience between you and your children.

Volunteering as a family is a unique experience, bonding the family in ways not possible during the ordinary daily routine. Getting involved in volunteerism gives kids an opportunity to see what a difference they can make, and that’s something that soccer and ballet don’t necessarily do.

Go Exploring

Having fun with your family is just precious, and no money can buy that. You can just go outside with the whole family around, and it’s guaranteed that everyone will have fun. It’s not only about the destination, but also the journey. Stop along the way to enjoy historic sights, stunning landscapes, and special stores. Laugh, be crazy, and adventurous. Enjoy new items such as food, culture, or activities. Most importantly, build memories and enjoy learning about mutual interests.

See the Local Sights

Spending quality time with the kids is a great way to build a strong, solid bond. Go to local places for sights, they’re also the perfect alternative to digital activities, helping you get your little ones off the electronics and outside for some fun in the sun on a nice day.

Be Imaginative

The best thing is that there are numerous ways to enjoy quality family time, from putting the lot in the car and taking on a prolonged road trip, to dreaming up whole new worlds together in the comfort of your backyard. It just takes a little bit of your imagination to convert any place into a fun and fabulous play area. Your kids will certainly appreciate the chance to catch a glimpse of the rarely seen extra-silly sides of their usually serious parents.

Gardening

Gardening fosters family bonding as it is an activity that everyone can be involved in. Start a gardening project and get the kids to lend a helping hand. You can buy seeds to grow fruits, vegetables, and beautiful flowers. Have the kids help you with digging, planting seeds, watering, and so much more. It connects kids with nature and they learn how important it is to take care of it and that they’re never too young to make an impact in the world.

Learn a new skill together

Spending time together helps to form lasting connections between family members. If you can’t be with them for hours upon hours, attempt to make the most of your time when you are together. Learn something together be it an online tutorial to learn to cook, play the guitar, knit, or any other do-it-yourself project.

Do random acts of kindness together

Complete some acts of kindness together with your child, and the whole family will experience how good it feels to do something nice for someone else.

Suggested Read: Global Family Day