You have a strong interest in building and strengthening social bonds within your family. According to research mentioned by Verywell Family, when families enjoy time together, children can grow in their self-esteem as well as crucial social skills.
Older members of the household can also benefit in the long term — as, in one study cited by Harvard Health Publishing, loneliness was found to increase dementia risk by 40%. So, what activities could your family engage in together?
Eat food
Ideally, it will be around the dinner table that the entire household gathers. However, if busy schedules prevent this from happening, breakfast could be a convenient alternative occasion for that get-together.
Either way, make sure you ban phones and any other electronics from the table so that you are all free to chat with each other.
Do routine household responsibilities
Basically, these are tasks that have to be done around the house as a matter of course; think the likes of cleaning, hoovering and tidying up.
Once you have listed chores, you could arrange for everyone to agree to take on particular duties. Set aside a specific time of the week when all of these people will work on their chores simultaneously. That way, if someone finishes early, they could help someone else with their tasks.
Specify a mission statement for your family
This might sound like a cheesy idea, but deciding with the rest of your family what the group’s ‘mission statement’ should be can assist you all in establishing priorities.
There’s no need for the mission statement to be particularly lengthy or complex, as even just ‘we love each other and help each other’ will suffice. Whatever the statement does say, you can remind people of it by displaying it prominently in your home.
Play games
The mention of ‘games’ might initially bring to your mind games on a Wii or PlayStation. However, if certain older people in the house aren’t too keen on that kind of thing, you could instead turn to family board games like Cluedo and Monopoly.
You could also consider getting some physical exercise by playing something like football or tennis outdoors.
Take a walk
If there are any particularly elderly members of the family, they might find sports a little too strenuous to partake in. However, you could find that these relatives are much more willing to contemplate going on a walk with you outside and getting some gentle exercise in the process.
Create a family tree
Thanks to TV shows like Who Do You Think You Are?, there has been an increased interest in genealogy. You could start building a family tree based simply on what information you already know about your family.
LoveToKnow suggests: “Ask the older kids to do some online research about the family history or write to long-lost relatives to fill in the branches of the tree.” You could even go as far as discussing your family’s geographic and ethnic origins, and how influences of this background have trickled through to the present day.
Additionally, whilst creating the family tree, there may be family members you realise you have lost contact with and want to reconnect. If this is the case, then you could consider educating yourself on how to locate someone by using social media, however this does not always work. This is when you could hire a professional private investigator company to educate you on how to trace someone so that you get to reunite with your loved ones! Remember that whichever method you use to strengthen your bonds with your family, you can cater them with your own personal touch to suit you best!