How to Make More Time for Your Family Even When You’re Busy
You may want to spend more quality time with your family, but between work, household chores, childcare, school, and your kid’s activities it seems there aren’t enough hours in the day. How do you work in meaningful family time, when your schedule is already packed too full?
We have some tips for ways can incorporate more purposeful time with your loved ones into your routine.
Daily Family Meals
All Pro Dad
Studies show that children are better developed when they have regular meals with their families. It also teaches them healthy eating habits and is a great way for you to learn about their day and what’s going on at school.
Whether you have breakfast together each morning or dinner at the end of the day, try to get in the habit of having at least one meal all together daily.
Help with Homework and School Activities
Women’s Day
Get involved with your kid’s schoolwork or school activities. In general, kids tend to do better in school when their parents are involved.
Whether it’s being aware of project deadlines and keeping them on track, helping with homework each night, or attending parent-teacher conferences. Engaging in their academic lives will show your kids that you care.
If you find it difficult to make time to help with school each night, try trading off with your spouse so you’re both involved and share the commitment.
Have Regular Shared Activities and Traditions
She Knows
A great way to make sure you have consistent time with your family is to start a regular tradition, like a weekly or monthly game night, movie night, excursion to a museum, concert, or event.
Another regular activity you can do with your kids is volunteering for a cause that resonates with you both. Volunteering teaches children about empathy, compassion, and community responsibility. While for teenagers it can also help them gain work experience and build their self-esteem.
Reading aloud to young children is another great habit to get into. Not only does it foster parent-child bonding, but it stimulates your child’s mind and imagination. While also helping develop language and listening skills. Even when your kids get old enough to read to themselves it may be a tradition that you continue for the sake of having quality time together.
Start a project or hobby with your kids. You can take an interest in your kid’s existing hobbies or start something new together whether it’s a sport, crafting, hiking, or gardening.
For more inspiration check out UNICEF’s resources for family-friendly activities.
Involve Your Kids in Activity Decisions
Cella Jane
Whatever activities you choose to do as a family, make sure your kids are involved and the decision-making process. That way they’ll be excited and feel engaged, rather than forced to do something or view family time as a form of punishment.
Family Time Can be Downtime
In Honor of Design
Family time doesn’t always need to be a scheduled activity. Just like adults, kids need time to relax and decompress. Rather than having everyone in your household relax in a different room, try lounging together in the living room or other common area.
Family downtime shouldn’t be spent on phones and tablets. Otherwise, it’s not quality and meaningful time. It’s important for you and your kids to disconnect from devices. A recent study by Tech Crunch reports that we spend an average of 4.2 hours each day on our phones, which is a 30% increase from 2019.
Get Kids Involved in Household Chores
Women’s Day
Kids love to help with ‘adult’ things so one way to spend time with them is to get them involved with tasks around the house. It may take more time, but they’ll enjoy helping and it teaches them how to be independent.
For small children, you can start with something simple like picking up their toys or tidying their room. As they grow you can have them do more like helping you with the laundry, washing dishes, or cooking dinner.
Disconnect From Work and Set Boundaries
Hello Fashion Blog
If you have a demanding and hectic work schedule that takes up the majority of your day, it can be difficult to incorporate family time consistently. That’s why one of the first steps is prioritizing time with your family and setting more boundaries at work.
This can be done in a number of forms and will depend on your work situation. You could consistently log off from work or leave the office at a certain hour to make it home in time for dinner. Or turn off your phone for a few hours each evening to not be distracted by work emails. Or make a point to not reply to anything work-related over the weekend or for at least 24 hours.
Whatever boundaries you choose to put in place, setting these expectations with colleagues, bosses, and/or clients so they know you’re not reachable 24/7 will make a huge difference.
Rethink Your To-Do List
Another way you can create more time for family is to reassess your to-do list. It may be impossible to get everything done, so the first step is recognizing that and not beating yourself or your spouse up when certain things slip.
The reality is you can’t do everything 100% of the time and that’s ok!
Adapt your mindset to accept “good enough” in some cases and delegate what you can and then forget about the things that don’t have a significant impact. As yourself, “will it be a problem if X doesn’t get done?” If the answer is “no”, then reprioritize that task or remove it from your list altogether.
Odyssey
Outsource Tasks
To give yourself more time, may there are certain tasks you can outsource? Like hiring a nanny, or housekeeper to help lighten the load. Or perhaps you’ll want to invest in a gardener rather than maintaining the yard yourself. How about a cleaning service?
If you can afford to hire a professional to take on some household tasks then the additional cost will be worth it if it means having more time for your family.
Prioritize Family Time
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