How to Fit Quality Family Time into Your Busy Schedules

If your family is anything like ours, you are running in a million different directions. Soccer games on Tuesday, PTA meetings on Monday, business trips on Thursday and Friday, and Sunday everyone collapses from exhaustion. In all the hustle and bustle of daily life, it gets very easy to forego family time. After all, the bills need paid, groceries bought, and homework done. There just doesn’t seem to be enough hours in the day or week. And then many families ask, “Why do we need family time at all anyway?” We see and talk to each other every day (though admittedly it may be as we pass each other in the door), email each other daily, and frankly the kids aren’t complaining. So why add to our already busy schedules? Because simply, our kids crave it. Yes, they may not be asking, but in the end all kids really want from their parents is their undivided, non-distracted time.

For the most part, kids are very adaptable. They learn to go with the flow, know when the right and wrong time is to ask us for something, and learn that sometimes it is just easier not to ask. And sometimes kids just don’t know the words to express what they are feeling or what they need from us. So their frustrations come out as crankiness, whining, and bad behavior. So what’s a family to do? Follow these tips and you will be on your way to regular fun filled family time.

Schedule Regular Family Time – Grab your family calendar and schedule your family time for this month on everyone’s calendar. Once it’s scheduled, protect it like gold. This means saying no to the last minute birthday party your son gets invited to, saying no the PTA president who desperately needs you to manage the book fair, and saying no to your boss when she asks you to work late.

Plan It – Nothing ruins a family outing more than waiting until the last minute to figure out what to do. Agree as a family ahead of time what you will do and then make your reservations, print your maps, organize your supplies, and fill your car with gas ahead of time.

Make it Fun – Discuss together as a family what fun things everyone would like to do. Make sure everyone’s voice is heard and negotiate differences. If time or money is a concern, then it may be a good idea for the parents to come up with a pre-approved list from which the kids can choose.

Turn Off the TV, Video Games, and Computer - Nothing takes away from quality family time like a TV blaring in the background. Give your family a chance to connect without all the background noise and you will be amazed at the things you learn and how much you laugh.

Make it a Priority – This is the hardest thing for many families to do, but if you can accomplish this everything else will be much easier.

So schedule and plan your family time now. Your kids will thank you for those “little things” later.