Emotional Tails

We frequently hope for a lot of quality family time during the weekend, yet these times can easily get overly scheduled, surprisingly costly, or tricky to arrange. For a lot of families, the best things you do together aren’t necessarily the biggest or most spectacular, but are those which get everyone focusing on the same thing, happening often, and are relaxed enough for both kids and grown ups to have a good time. Experts in families say you get closer by being together in normal ways, and particularly when whatever you’re doing doesn’t feel like something you have to do.

Kids do best with family time that has a balance of planned parts with a relaxed feeling. A thing to do that you can roughly predict but which also allows chatting, being active, and just doing what comes to mind is often much better than a very full schedule that stresses everyone out more than it is fun. How well you connect on the weekend will usually depend more on if the activity suits your family’s energy levels, how much money you have, and your usual way of doing things, and much less on how new and exciting it is.

1. A Neighborhood Walk With a Simple Purpose

Just going for a walk might seem a bit too basic to be a real family time, but it’s surprisingly good at being one – you get exercise, you chat, and nobody feels rushed. To make it more interesting for kids, give the walk a little focus. You could search for birds, flowers, all the different types of doors on houses, or evidence of the weather changing around where you live.

The best part of this is you don’t need to do a lot of getting ready, and it’s in this relaxed environment that people start talking. Kids will generally open up and say more when they’re walking around, as opposed to being at the table or in some other set location.

2. A Family Meal Project

Cooking even a single meal as a family can be something you do together, and eventually a habit. Kids can rinse the fruits and vegetables, mix things up in the bowl, get the table ready or even be involved in deciding what you’ll have. It gets everyone concentrating on the same thing, and importantly, gives children a job to do within how the family usually operates.

Families usually find these meals go more easily if the point is for everyone to be involved, not to be fast or have it look amazing. A leisurely breakfast, a snack made from scratch, or a laid back pizza evening all bring people together without needing a huge production. Often, the fun of making the meal is more important than how it tastes.

3. Library Visits or Bookstore Browsing

Going on family trips with books as the focus is a calmer way to bond, and it can be just as good. Kids generally like to pick their own books, and while you’re out, parents can get a sense of what their kids are into in ways they might not at home. It’ll also help your family to keep up with reading, but without the trip feeling like schoolwork.

In fact, these book-focused outings are particularly good if you do them at the same time every weekend. A place you go to often, and without a lot of fuss, can easily become a family tradition.

4. A Park Visit With Unstructured Play Time

Kids (and you!) are often happiest when doing things with the family and have plenty of space to run around, yet grown-ups are still around but not telling them what to do all the time. Going to the park is good for being active, using imaginations, and just chatting, and it doesn’t feel as closed in as being at the house.

Also, not scheduling every minute of the weekend is a good thing. Children do really well when they have a chance to look things over on their own, while their moms and dads watch, talk with them, and get involved if they want to.

5. A Home Movie or Game Night

Family nights in at home are still loved because you can easily do what you want and they’re something everyone knows. Spending time together with a film, a board game, cards or a jigsaw puzzle doesn’t involve going anywhere or spending a lot of money. These are generally at their best when the kids aren’t stressed about doing well and the grown-ups don’t feel like they have to be amazingly entertaining to make the night brilliant.

Plus, doing similar things at home regularly can turn into family traditions. Something that begins as a quick and easy thing to do on a weekend can slowly turn into a time the whole family really relies on to be close to each other.

6. A Seasonal Outdoor Tradition

Doing things on the weekend is usually nicer if it ties into what the time of year is. A walk in springtime, a picnic on a summer night, gathering up fall leaves, or hot chocolate after a quick trip outside in the winter, all of these help kids understand how time goes by, and they do it as a family. Because they happen at the same time each year, these things become familiar, but not boring.

Actually, families are much more likely to have strong memories of these seasonal habits they do over and over, instead of a single, really fancy trip. What makes them special isn’t how big they are, but their beat, and the fact that you realize they’re happening again.

7. A Small Project Done Together

Planting herbs, tidying up where the kids play, putting together a scrapbook page, baking something, or constructing a simple structure – any of these could be a family project. What’s important about working on something together is that it encourages teamwork and talking, and everyone is working towards the same goal. It’s generally easier and more normal to connect this way, instead of trying to have a proper bonding chat.

Also, doing projects gives kids a sense of being useful. They discover that being together isn’t only about being amused, but about constructing, creating and successfully completing a thing as a family.

Why Simple Activities Often Leave the Strongest Impressions

Families get closer when they do things over and over, really focus on each other while doing them, and have everyday routines that aren’t too complicated. Things you can easily repeat lots of times end up being more important in the long run, rather than big, fancy plans that are hard to keep going. In fact, for lots of families, the most successful weekend is simply something that’s realistic enough to do the next weekend, and the one after that.

Key Takeaway