Usually, the whole spending time together never crosses a man’s mind and even if it does, a typical man is clueless as to planning a family get-together.

When you hear the words ‘the family that prays together…’ what comes to your mind next is “stays together”. We are all used to the fact that it is a praying family that stays together. Yes, prayer is the one glue that holds the family but do you also know that it’s not just praying that solves it all, prayer without action is equal to nothing.

The hectic lives that many live today makes it difficult to find time to be together with the family. Being the woman of the house for instance, you wake up early to prepare breakfast for the family and dress up the kids, you hurriedly dress up for work too, and drop the kids in school. Then after having a busy day at the office, you return home to prepare dinner, help the kids with their assignments  and tiredly go to bed so as to wake up early enough to repeat the same routine; you realize that you basically have no time to have fun/play together as a family.

Well, you could justify yourself with Proverbs 31:17 where it is stated that the woman of the house sets about her work vigorously… but when was the last time you did something really fun and adventurous with your family? Something that the kids often look up to; something that made you all laugh, chase each other, etc.

Usually, the whole spending time together never crosses a man’s mind and even if it does, a typical man is clueless as to planning a family get-together; but as the woman of the house, with the gift of creativity and true emotion, planning a family day together will be easy, fun and worthwhile.

You should imbibe the habit of playing together, joking and having fun together, it helps hold tight the bond that glues the family as one.

Get creative with fun ways to help sustain your family bond.

You could plan a regularly scheduled family fun night, and spend an evening doing an activity that everyone enjoys. Give your nights some party flair: plan a game, a competition or a craft to work on together. Add in some special treats (pizza or simple finger food like chinchins, popcorns) etc.

It indeed works. When the family plays together, it helps build trust, feeling of intimacy and closeness. The kids will feel free to open up to you and tell you you stuffs that they wouldn’t have told you.

Now that Christmas is here, you should introduce the culture of decorating the house together, let everyone be actively involved. Let everyone test their inner designer! Use fabric scraps, leftover wallpaper, craft paper and imaginative trims.  It’s hilarious fun to see what everyone creates!

You could do dance games where you turn up the tunes and get your groove on. Freestyle with your favorite music and do a dance game challenge. You will have a great time and all that laughing will bring you closer together.

You could grow a garden: Gardening is a lot of work, but it’s a lot of fun too. Go shopping together and let everyone pick out fruits and vegetables to grow. Take turns working the garden or do it all together — older kids can pull weeds, while little ones will love wielding a watering can. You’ll all feel a shared sense of accomplishment when you sit down to a dinner full of food you grew together.

Take them to work: No matter how old your kids are, they wonder what you do while you’re away all day. While growing up, accompanying my parents to work during holidays was something I often looked up to. Although, work ethics doesn’t permit you allowing your family members to pay a visit during work hours, it is okay to break the rules once in a while. Clue them in with a trip to your office; it makes the feel important.

Go on an adventure: Trying new things together is a great way to grow closer. The question of ‘how do I make out time for all this?’ Make out time from the little time you have got. While cooking for instance, don’t stay all by yourself in the kitchen doing all the mixing and cutting, let your kids join you, crack jokes and talk doing the activity…that way the kids not only learn the cooking method but also learn more importantly the art, the joy of togetherness, and the love in bonding. So in conclusion…pray, play, laugh, have fun, because it’s just one family you have got.

————————-

Kemi Filani is a purpose driven lady who enjoys writing to anything else. She is an ardent social media tourist, journalist and one of the faithful Nigerians who still believe Nigeria will be great! She blogs at www.kemifilani.blogspot.com and tweets from @kemisolafilani

 

Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.