Bringing Your Family Together

Here’s a great way to spend some quality time as a family! If you like the idea of having fun as family, but need some new ideas…just sign up for my FREE Weekly Tips called “Heart to Heart…”  Each week  you’ll receive a new idea or an easy parenting tip that just might help you go from “why me…to… wow!” If you have any questions about any of the tips or about how coaching might benefit you, I’d love to talk with you…

• Encourage your kids to get organized and have a great school year by involving them in establishing a homework zone.  Let them help you come up with some basic “Guidelines for Success” (no more than 3-5) that they can post in the place where they do their homework.  Work with them to find a place in your home that they can use every day with minimal distractions, and make sure they have a box or a file with basic supplies handy.  It’s a great idea for kids of all ages to have a specific time and place for homework, and if you involve them there’s a better chance that they will stick with the new routine.

 

• Are you craving some face time with your favorite novel, but can’t seem to find the time?  Start a family reading time!  Once a week, or every day…whatever your family would enjoy (or tolerate) to begin with.  If you and the kids don’t already have a good book, take a family trip to the bookstore or the library and make a big deal out of picking out a great book.  Then, at the appointed day and time, everyone grab a cushion, a chair, a couch, etc. and set the timer for good old fashioned reading (family style).  Don’t tell the kids they have to read until the timer rings, tell them that they can “only read until the timer rings, and that hopefully next time we’ll be able to read a little longer if we have time”.  This family activity is chock full of benefits!

 

• If you take your kids to the grocery store with you, let them each bring a calculator (you can get them at the dollar store now) and have them keep a running total of the groceries as you put them in the cart.  You can also put someone in charge of making sure that you get everything on the list.  Another fun job is to have one or all of the kids do some comparison shopping by checking different brands of the same item and seeing which one is the better deal.  In these tougher economic times, the grocery can provide a great opportunity to discuss money and budgets without being scary.  Allowing the kids to be a part of the process will also help the shopping trip to go more smoothly!

 

• Speaking of tougher economic times…let your family decorate a jar or a box and encourage everyone in the family to drop in ideas on free or inexpensive fun family activities into it.   Keep some slips of scrap paper and pencils handy!  Take turns each week picking ideas out of the container. 

Have fun…and if you’ve got a great family idea that you would like me to feature…just email it to me.