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If there ever was any good that came out of months of isolation with family members at home amid the Covid-19 lockdowns, it was the opportunity to reconnect with our loved ones as the world temporarily came to a halt. It is no secret that though memories made with the family builds togetherness, it is interactive and fun activities on a weekly basis that builds stronger bonds.
However, now that we are all back to our routines after the travel and work-from-home restrictions have lifted post 2 years of the coronavirus lockdown, we kind of miss the days of togetherness and crave ways to reconnect with our loved ones. In an interview with HT Lifestyle, Dr Aarti Bakshi, Developmental Psychologist and SEL Consultant at SAAR Education, shared, “Special moments are more meaningful when the whole family is involved in planning fun activities. Planning is the key to make the family moments special and turn bonding into a lifetime of funny, sweet stories and lasting memories.”
She added, “Building a close-knit family is hard work daily. Extreme silences, bottling emotions, not resolving conflicts, technology addiction destroys the thread of a family. Consistently spending scheduled interactive time as a family are thus a necessity. Establishing family routines like bedtime stories, fixed mealtimes, play times and parents working as one unit also help create a sense of stability in the lives of children.”
Dr Aarti Bakshi listed some fun activities to strengthen the family glue:
1. Conduct family interviews: Children can record interviews of their parents, grandparents, favourite uncles, and aunts. It will be exciting to know many fascinating stories of growing up in different eras, including the children. And voila! a collection of personal anecdotes and memories, will create a time capsule of family history. Converting the interviews into a scrapbook or create a book or digital file of photos would increase the attachments.
2. Plan a family photoshoot: Capturing candid moments helps preserve family memories.
3. Cook together to create closer bonds: Can also use the time to listen, share and talk with your child. Create videos of the cooking time together.
4. Mindfulness together helps to stay calm as a family: Savour some silence. Take a listening walk. Although nature is especially relaxing, a listening walk can occur anywhere, at home and even a noisy shopping mall or restaurant.
5. Playing board games: Along with teaching the children teamwork, patience, and how to win and lose gracefully, board games build brain power and language development.
6. Sing, dance, have special handshakes as a family. Thank each other, compliment meaningfully.
Bonding with your little one can always be made fun and Dr Vanshika Gupta Adukia, Pregnancy/Childbirth and Lactation Specialist, a Pelvic Floor Physiotherapist and the Founder of Therhappy, asserts that engaging activities done together as a family can feel most fulfilling and enriching. Hence, she shared some fun ideas that can help family members come closer:
1. Make your family scrapbook/tree- Creativity with going closer to your roots!
2. Make your own family song- Recreate on a favourite tune or churn something absolutely authentic. Adding your own lyrics to it will be endearing.
3. Play dress up- Let your child’s imagination run wild and let them dress you up!
4. Research your next family holiday destination together- This will make children feel more involved while also teaching them about a new location.
5. Have a no rules day- Bring out the inner child in you and turn the tables to allow children to take over for the day.
Bringing her own expertise and adding to the list of the best family bonding activities, Dr. Khushboo Thakker Garodia, Homeopath, Trichologist, Nutrition and Stress Management Expert, revealed some ways that were designed to get all family members off their devices and interacting for a while. She insisted, “Save this list of activities and add them to your weekly routine and create some new fun memories as family. You can also make a list of these activities and put them in a jar and let your kid pull out one activity for that week.”
1. Cook or bake together: Kids just love to help bake – it can be cookies, cakes, brownies, just about anything. They love to mix all the ingredients and get messy and then whip it all up. It’s a lot of fun to even decorate cup cakes and cookies together. You can make fun designs out of pancakes or even make sandwiches look fun.
2. Play hide and seek: Toddlers get a big thrill seeking adults out when playing hide and seek. This game can be played indoors or outdoors and you can create some really fun memories and just laugh your heart out.
3. Go on a nature walk together: Go to a beach or a park together and try spotting interesting things – play pretend explorers. The fresh air is good for everyone and if the kids up old enough you can take them even for a hike and explore new routes
4. Plan a movie night: Every week you can pick one movie to watch together. Bring out pop corns, some fresh lime, cuddle together in blankets and enjoy the movie together. Make sure to make both salted popcorn and caramel popcorn together so their excitement is next level because the kids want to eat what they made.
5. Have a dance party: Dancing needs no age limit and what you can do is take turns picking the music. Sometimes this can be done with children just as a workout together.
6. Play games together: If you have older kids, playing monopoly or even Jenga together is fun. With younger kids you can do puzzles or play Uno or Pictionary. Play charades – that is also much fun too.
7. Go swimming: Water play is the best way to bond with your children and family. Playing games in the pool together is more fun than you can imagine. You can also visit a water park.
You can come up with your own list of fun things to do. Hopefully this list of family bonding activities can inspire you with some new ideas to have fun together as a family.
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