#597 Family Get Togethers..

All creatures great and small and that includes us humans, cringe, laugh, curse, sigh but most of us come together at some stage in the year or often for that ‘Family Get Together”. Whether your kids are young and living at home, away at college or with families of their own, or that you think your family is boring and come up with every excuse not to go along. It is important to stay connected. For the Mums and Dads, What do you do to strengthen family bonds and make sure your family stays close together?

Busy school and work schedules, play dates and general day-to-day busyness can dramatically decrease the amount of time spent together as a family. It's time to bring your family closer together by making family time a priority and supporting one another.

Here are five fun ways to get closer as a family!

1) Write notes to each other or in these days – ‘Text’

Whilst text is mostly available to us adults. Write a note instead, to bring a smile to the beautiful faces of everyone in your family by reminding them how much you care. Tuck notes into backpacks, briefcases and bags. Leave a Post-it on the computer monitor, on the front of the refrigerator or on the car dashboard. A cute idea for kids is to write "I love you!" on an unpeeled banana's skin and tuck the banana in your child's lunch box. For kids who are in college or away from home, send a weekly email just to check in.

2) Cook and bake together

Teach your children how to cook by making it a family fun time. Pass down the family recipes from generations past and maybe even get creative and come up with some new family recipes together. Start out slowly and remember to always supervise your children in the kitchen.

3) Eat dinner as a family

With all of the conflicting schedules it's easy to let the craziness take over. Make time as often as possible to sit down and have dinner together; turn off the television and listen to one another as you talk about everyone's day. Make Sunday night family night. Invite extended family over to promote bonding with grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and other relatives.

4) Support each other

All the members of your family have special talents and interests. Take the time to go to your daughter's dance recital or your son's soccer game as a family. Show them that you (and the whole family) support them by attending the special activities for each family member. The members of your family will appreciate the support and love that you give them and it also gives you a chance to spend quality time together.

Everyone has a voice, so listen to it!!

5) Listen, Listen, Listen. Your day – bad or happy can wait. Find out about your families day, what is going on in their life. Ignore your differences if it is strained and think to yourself, you may have problems with x, or y but they are still your family. Your time will come when you listen to others.

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