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It is important to spend time together as family for everyone's well-being. Children need to vent things they have on their minds and so does the parents. Nobody will feel very talkative or attentive to other people's needs if constantly feeling stressed out. To be able to enjoy time together the atmosphere need to be relaxed and everyone need to feel comfortable. Good quality family time can, with it a little bit of thinking and planning, fit very nicely in to even the busiest family's schedule.

Make the school run into a special time by walking a few minutes earlier from home so that you have time to discuss and look at things you see on the way or talk about things the children have on their minds. Maybe they are worried or really excited about something. If you are in a constant rush there will not be enough time to explore their feelings and after a while they will feel like it is not worth even trying to talk about anything important as nobody has time to listen anyway. Maybe you can walk different ways to make each day a little bit different to the day before.

If you drive, turn the radio off and talk to each other instead. If you feel it is difficult to get started on a conversation, play a car game to get more relaxed and just laugh together. Bingo is an easy game for all ages to play and not to distractive for the driver to join into. The passengers are divided into two teams, one for the left side of the road and one team for the right side. You decide one five items that the teams should spot on their side of the road. First team to spot all the items shouts bingo. Singing together is also a good way of getting rid of stress and tensions as each person feels that they are part of bigger context and the sound waves created by singing will relax the body from the inside.

At home, make sure not to have the TV on at all times. Turn it off, and do the same with the computers, and talk to each other instead. Help the kids with their home work, take time to listen to them, play boardgames, do some DIY or craft activities together. Cooking together is also a nice activity which children can learn a lot from too. Lay the table nicely and let the children decorate it with napkins and seasonal things such as autumn leaves or spring flowers. Turn down the lights, light a few candles and sit and talk to each other at dinner time.

If you have lots of activities to fit in to the weekly schedule, try to plan ahead so that there will still be enough time to have a nice and relaxed meal together. Maybe cook the food in advance so that you can spend time together rather than rushing about all stressed out in the kitchen.

Try to keep weekends free room activities so that there will be time to sleep a bit longer in the morning and have lazy, long breakfasts together. Nobody can feel happy if constantly tired out. Get out in the fresh air. Take a walk together in the park or in the woods and look at the seasonal changes in nature. If you discover and explore things together as a family you will get a common ground and you will have lot to talk about. It is not so important what you choose to do together. The important thing is that you actually do something actively together and do it in a relaxed and stressfree way.

Learn more about this author, S-C Sterner.
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