Healthy Families Have Fun Together: 9 Tips For Your Home
It’s one of the first lessons we learn as toddlers. And yet we forget it all too soon. Balance. Balance helps us walk and it can help us be happy later in life. And a family without balance can result in lasting problems. And what’s most often left out of the equation? Fun. It’s important to work, learn discipline and eat healthy. But the most valuable moments in our memories are often associated with joy. Those times we have together. 
What Does Fun do For Family?
What moments do you remember most vividly? Were they planned?
Most often the impulsive moments of happiness make the deepest impressions on the human mind. And in these moments important things take place that family members shouldn’t be without:
- They feel free despite their differences.
- Communication improves when people feel less reserved.
- Happy times create bonds and form an identity between family members.
- More positive memories result in more value you have for each other. This causes more respect which can prevent hurting each other in future.
But why can’t we balance these fun times with the more serious activities? To help your family enjoy more exciting times together, I suggest you follow these handy tips.
How To Get This Right in Your Home
Yes, your most fun times will be unplanned. But you won’t discover these times if your lifestyle doesn’t allow them to happen. And your home’s setup can be the key to how much fun you have.
Try implementing these and wait for the fun to start.
Prepare for Fun
What does your home allow?
If you only have gravel—no grass—outside, you’ll never play with a ball. Someone can fall and get hurt. And the same concept applies to your home’s interior:
- If you don’t have board games you’ll never have quality times where family members compete against each other.
- When all floor areas in your home are used up by work, furniture or décor, there won’t be space to impulsively play pranks on one another. Your children are probably too scared of breaking something.
- Do you need everything to be in its place at all times? What if someone wants to start a DIY project? It can be a fun family activity, but only if they’re allowed to move furniture out of the way.
Do you see how your desire to have order can take the fun out of family life?
An easy answer to this is installing games that always look tidy. What about Foosball? It can’t result in clutter and the unit can blend in with furniture. At The Scouting Report you can browse through quality Foosball items.
Now you’re happy because your aesthetics aren’t spoiled. The whole family will be happy because they can have some fun!
Shut Off Technology
Of course they won’t even care about the foosball table if they can be on their mobile devices. The popularity of social media and the internet took the world by storm. And it’s only increasing.
Will you be able to get your family away from their Smartphones for long enough to have fun?
This is where you need rules to expedite fun times. Yes, they’ll fight you at first, but eventually everyone will see it’s worth it to comply. Here are a few suggestions:
- No Smartphones during meal times. You never know when someone will come up with the perfect joke. And you don’t want anyone to miss the punch line.
- Arrange family game times—such as a foosball competitions—and don’t allow Smartphones. Show everyone part of the fun is enjoying each other’s victories. It’s not only about winning yourself.
- Mobile devices must be switched off at a certain time at night. The only time you’ll have energy to enjoy each other’s company is when you get enough sleep.
It’s frightening when you realize what your current habits result in. Changing one of them opens up possibilities of quality time and the fun all of us crave.
Involve Friends
But it’s not about cutting your family off from the rest of the world. Quite the opposite. That’s why it’s important to involve friends in your home life.
Children shouldn’t only know their friends online. People act differently in face to face situations. Help your children discover who their friends really are by allowing them to invite them to your home.
I guarantee a bunch of young people—without their Smartphones in their hands—will automatically result in fun and funny times.
But sadly we don’t create enough of these times. In the end your children may remember someone’s funny posts, but not what their real interests were. What kind of childhood do you want your children to remember?
Cater For Everyone
Think about what your child’s definition of fun is. If it’s about having a laugh at someone’s expense, they need some tutoring.
Real fun means everyone laughs at the end.
To get this right you must cater for all ages:
- Can you take time to watch a children’s movie?
- Did you forget to upgrade your board games to things your teenagers will enjoy? They don’t want to play kids’ games anymore.
- Do you listen to everyone’s interests and request before planning a day outing? Your idea of fun may differ from someone else’s. It has to work for everyone.
Get it right and you’re facilitating situations where valuable fun can be had and laughter be heard. Are you ready for the other side of parenting?
We’re supposed to show the next generation how to live balanced lives. That’s part of adults’ responsibilities. If they don’t have anyone showing them how to have fun, they won’t teach their children either. Or it becomes a problem if the fun they see on the internet is unsafe. Without a different example, they’ll believe that’s the only way. Are you ready to be the fun leader they need?
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Related:
Are Our Children Addicted To Technology-How It Effects Kids
Moms Resources: Tools And Guidence When Teaching Toddlers
Teens’ Internet Use and Its Impact on Their Lives – What a Parental Control App Can Do