Spending Family Time Together is much like Spending One-On-One Time, but done with the whole family instead of with each child individually. But make no mistake, it does not replace Spending One-On-One Time.

You may feel that doing something with your entire family is inviting fighting, complaining, stress, and not worth the effort.

However, if you have been practicing Spending One-On-One Time, and have been giving your children the positive attention they crave, there will be less fighting and complaining during Family Time because your children will no longer have a need to compete for your attention. That means less stress for you and more fun for everyone.

Family Activities

Family activities promote family bonding and strengthen relationships between you and your children. They also strengthen relationships between your children and their siblings.

Furthermore, they create good memories. Years later when your children are older, they will talk about the good times you spent doing things together. So, remember to take pictures and record the events in a journal.

Family activities provide opportunities for having fun together, working together and solving problems together. They provide opportunities for children to help each other, encourage each other, listen to each other, applaud efforts, and celebrate successes.

Children can try new things without fear of criticism. Family activities are a necessary part of a strong family.

Family time can be spent on vacations, a day at the zoo, an hour of miniature golf, or just playing a game at home.

Eat Dinner Together

Eating dinner together as a family provides opportunities for talking, catching up, and reconnecting. They help children feel loved, safe and secure. Studies have shown that when families regularly eat together, and the conversation is positive, children are more likely to exhibit good behavior.

Dinner time should not be a time to correct behavior, criticize, or blame. It should be an occation when everyone feels safe and looks forward to being together.

Have Weekly Family Meetings

Weekly Family meetings give everyone a voice in making decisions that affect the family, and that helps meet children’s needs for both a sense of personal power and a sense of belonging. They also provide a setting in which you can teach life skills, good values, and desirable behavior.

Once every week, gather everyone in the family together. Ideally, this should happen on the same day at the same time so everyone can plan on it and schedule around it.

Here is an example of an agenda for a family meeting:

Appreciation Time – This is where everyone takes a moment, at the beginning of each Family Meeting, to tell one thing they appreciated about each family member during the past week.

Calendar Time – Family meetings are a good time to coordinate everyone’s schedule for the following week.

Open Discussion – Open Discussion is the opportunity for anyone to talk about anything. It can be used to ask for help in making a decision, register a complaint, present a problem and find a solution, make an announcement, or request help with something.

Teach Something – This is a good time for mom or dad to teach something that might be awkward or difficult under any other circumstance. This is where good values are learned and discussed. Teaching values is Skill #11.

Fun Time – Fun Time can be as simple as going around the room and having everyone tell a joke, to something more ambitious like going for a bike ride. It should be the last item on your Family Meeting agenda. Try board games, card games like Uno, or skill games like Jenga.

Treat Time – Everyone enjoys treats, so be sure to make treat time part of every Family Meeting