Home – A Place to Bond With Your Family
“Home is where the heart is” is what we are often told. This phrase is used regularly in lyrics, poems, and posters. Is it totally appropriate? Yes! Of course. Home is where your most precious people live, your nearest and dearest, your family. Over the last year, we’ve all been forced to spend a little more time at home than we’re used to, which has led to some wonderful shared experiences with our families. Listen, we’re sure there’s been highs and lows, but we’ve all suddenly realized that what’s at home is all we’ve ever needed. And, that home is such a perfect place to make, maintain, and strengthen bonds with our families. With that in mind, we’ve listed a few ideas to help you bond with your family.
Eating Together
Mealtime is a super important part of family time. In fact, Casey, a blogger, and family bonding expert from howtohome.com said, “Mealtime is one of the most precious and valuable times of the day. It is a time where everyone should join together, free of distraction, and simply talk.” We could not agree more. Whether it’s after a busy day at work or simply a lockdown lunch, we believe we should all be making more of mealtimes. There’s no better time – as long as you’ve turned off the TV – to sit, distraction-free, and talk openly with one another. Communication has to be one of the most important parts of bonding, so sit, eat, and talk about your days, you’ll soon feel closer to one another.
Cooking and Baking
We know, we know, cooking isn’t for everyone. Some people just don’t have the care, interest, or flair for cooking or baking, and that’s fine. Maybe just stick to the eating together! But, for those of you who’d like to try your hand at cooking – or already do – how about sharing the experience with your family? Cooking or baking with younger children not only helps teach them about the kitchen and food, but it also helps them bond with you. It builds trust, communication, and fascination within your child’s mind. It’s not all about kids, cooking with a partner works, too! Delegate tasks, help each other out, and enjoy the whole process all the way through to sharing something you created together. Cooking can really be a strong bonding exercise.
Playing Games
It doesn’t have to be Christmas to all sit down together for some game time. Whether your game is a board game, video game, or family game like charades, it’s such a great way to bond and have fun together. Competitiveness aside, games bring out the laughter in a family. And, as much as communication about serious issues is good for bonding, laughter and happiness are important too. So, take some time away from work, screens, or distractions, and have some fun as a family unit.
Watching a Movie
Movie night is always a great night. Obviously, if you can, you may choose to go to the cinema, but if we’re staying at home it works too. Our recommendation here is to treat it like you have gone out. First, you have to pick the movie. A great tip here is to let everyone have their choice of film. For example, Friday the kids pick, Saturday Mum picks, and so on. This way everyone gets their chance to be super invested in the movie. Second, dim the lights, get out the snacks, and treat it like you’re on a special night. Put the phones away, turn the laptops off, put everything on silent, and enjoy the movie together. This way, you will all share the same moments and notice yourselves enjoying it together.
Organizing Photos
An absolute favorite bonding activity among families is to take a trip down memory lane with photos and videos. If you’re the kind of family who has lots of physical copies of photos, why not spend an afternoon or evening going through them together? The stories and memories will start flooding out and you’ll begin really appreciating everything you have shared together. This works digitally, too, don’t worry. You just have to treat it kind of like the movie night. Everyone is looking at the same screen together, not all off on their own devices trying to find the best pictures.
As you can see, all these activities are designed to bring people together and to help you bond. The key takeaway is that you never want to be distracted by other devices or other people when it’s family bonding time. We know the phones aren’t going anywhere, but try setting a few hours aside to do these activities without distraction. You won’t regret it.
