As a parent, it’s so easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of life. You get up Monday morning to start your busy weekday lives only to go to bed Sunday night to do the same thing all over again Monday morning. Where does the time go?

We can overextend ourselves sometimes with running a household, taking the kids here and there, and keeping our sanity during a stressful work week… even with all those aspects to consider, you can’t neglect the fact that family time together is the best way to show your families you care.

Family Time Can Be Whatever You Make It Out to Be

A lot of families think that “family time” is spent together only during vacations or special occasions and that couldn’t be further from the truth. Family time can be whatever you make it out to be. It can be something as simple as cleaning up together!

Now, chores aren’t necessarily the ideal choice of ways to spend family time together but the key thing is that you’re spending that time together, even if it is for cleaning up. It doesn’t have to be boring either! Turn the music up and have a cleaning party!

That “cleaning party” might sound cliche or not fun but it is a great way to spend family time together. For one, spending time together is just as important to kids as it is to adults. Secondly, we as humans want to feel needed.

Kids have that same feeling at a very young age too! The cleaning party will make them feel like you need their help and a lot of times, they’re very eager to help, especially at a very young age. So get all their help while you can, before they become a teenager and want to look at their phone all day!

Time Well Spent

Have you ever spent time with someone and did nothing at all but still had a wonderful time? Everyone has at some point. The fact that you did nothing at all and still had a good time speaks volumes on the company you had. The same thing applies to your family time with kids. You should be able to have a good time with your family whether you’re doing something in particular or just watching TV together.

We’re going to look at some ways to spend quality family time with your kids and look at some fun ways to add a little travel adventure in the mix!

Start the Tradition of a Family Night Each Week

This is the perfect way to ensure that your family spends quality time together during the week! Now, if you decide to do this each week, it needs to be on the same day each week. Wednesdays are great days to have family night because it’s the middle of the week and it actually becomes something the kids will look forward to.

Family night can be spent however you choose but it definitely needs to be something fun where everyone can let their hair down, in a sense, so a cleaning party wouldn’t be ideal for this. You and your family can go out to dinner or have game night… the options are limitless.

Plan a Family Vacation Together

On a family vacation, you, of course, will be spending time together but you can also spend time during the planning of it all too. Normally when it comes to planning a vacation, the responsibility is left up to one person and that person does all of the leg work for it. Well, this time, the kids can contribute too!

Choosing the Destination

Instead of one person picking the location, how about letting the little ones get a pick too! You can have them pick their top three places they would want to go and then have the entire family vote on where they would want to go the most out of those destinations.

Choosing the Activities

Once everyone has come to an agreement on the destination, the next thing is to determine what activities you can do as a family in that destination. If your family picked New York, you all could go to the Bronx Zoo or if everyone picked California, the kids would have a blast at Universal Studios.

Saving for the Trip

It’s one thing to go through the planning process for the trip but the planning will all be for nothing if you don’t have the money to go on the trip. So when your family starts planning for the trip, plan it out for a year out, that way it will give the family enough time to save up for it.

Even with this part of the trip, you can still involve your kids. As a parent trying to save for this trip, you might take on a part-time job or start an online business but your kids will often times want to help too so what you can do for them is get with family and friends and see if they’ll let your little ones help them with little chores around their house. The money they make from that can be saved for their own spending money for the trip or they can put it towards the family trip.

Involving your kids in the planning process will not only be fun for them and give them something to look forward to but it will also make them feel needed and appreciated for their contribution to the trip.

Serve Others As a Family

Psychology Today states that you can actually help yourself by helping others. It’s that warm and fuzzy feeling you get after doing a bit of good for someone else. Having your child experience this at a young age is one of the best things you can do for your child.

Maybe you have an elderly neighbor who sometimes has a hard time keeping their yard up. You and the kids could offer to help rake the leaves or pull their weeds. It might not seem like much but when your children see how much their help is appreciated, it will definitely make them feel good inside and help them learn the value of doing for others.

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I cannot believe that it is already May, friends! The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and the flowers are blooming here today. We’re about to head outside & enjoy it. Lots of love to you always.