10 WAYS TO SPEND QUALITY TIME WITH YOUR FAMILY

10 WAYS TO SPEND QUALITY TIME WITH YOUR FAMILY

-By Lanre Akinola

The art of finding time for those we love the most lies in managing priorities. To achieve the right work-life balance and live a fuller life, you need to work on carving out quality time for your family. Most people just keep planning to devote family time but it never happens, the best way to create time is include it as part of your daily schedule and also make family appointments. 10 WAYS TO SPEND QUALITY TIME WITH YOUR FAMILY

1. Go out alone with each person
   Make each person in your family feel special and loved, spend time with them alone. Having a date with your spouse sans kids keeps the romance alive, go for a quiet dinner or a drive. Take each kid out individually and listen to his or her account of the day, ask questions about their friends, their likes, problems and so on. This enables you to provide undivided attention.10 WAYS TO SPEND QUALITY TIME WITH YOUR FAMILY
2. Share a meal a day
   Family meals are a great way to connect with your family and listen to their concerns and share their joys. Get the family involved in the preparation of the meal, small children can do minor tasks based on their age like say taking the plates to the table while teenagers can help with cooking, buying grocery and so on. 10 WAYS TO SPEND QUALITY TIME WITH YOUR FAMILY
3. Compliment your family frequently
   Be generous with your compliments. You don’t have to wait for big accomplishments, even small ones like a pretty poster made by kids or a spouse doing something loving needs to be acknowledged and appreciated.
4. Divide household chores
   Share the household chores with your spouse; this automatically enables you to spend time together. You also get to chat with each other along the way.
5. Go on family vacations
   School routines, domestic chores and work keep us away form our family. Vacations are a time to bring back the togetherness, choose an exciting

new place as a family where you will not only enjoy new experiences but learn things about each other that you never knew. Try to put away mobile phones, tabs, computers and such devices that isolate you from the family.10 WAYS TO SPEND QUALITY TIME WITH YOUR FAMILY

6. Get inputs
   Get your family involved when planning what you want to do when you are together. It could be anything from going to the beach or shopping together.
7. Pursue an activity with your spouse
   Go for yoga classes or hit the gym along with your spouse. If that’s not your cup of tea, you could take up hobby classes like cooking, craft and so on. If you find that too time-consuming find time to attend short workshops on subjects of your interest.
8. Play games with kids
   Playing with your kids makes you feel fresh and young and also endears you to your kids. You can choose from outdoor games to board games and video games.
9. Buy special gifts
   Gifts are a way of showing your family how much you love them. Take them out shopping with you to pick a gift of their choice.
10. Build happy memories
    Celebrate occasions like birthdays and anniversaries in a creative and memorable way. These will be remembered forever. Besides this, it’s important to celebrate each day you get with your family by going that extra mile to build happy memories.10 WAYS TO SPEND QUALITY TIME WITH YOUR FAMILY