Family Time: Why Spending Time with Family is Important
- While it’s true that family is forever, it is important that the family is healthy. Your family will be healthy if you give it time. Family time is an essential factor that helps to create strong bonds, love, connections, and relationship among the family members. Spending quality time with family does help in coping with challenges, instil a feeling of security, inculcate family values, fill kids with confidence, and much more.
Do you ever wonder why family time is important?
Yes, time is so important – in fact, time is money, as we’re often reminded when we set out to seek our livelihood as parents.
But family time? Is this meaningful or serve any purpose? Isn’t it just a waste of time because you could probably earn a few grand more putting that time to work!
I know you do not actually think like that and I’ve exaggerated it a bit.
Maybe you do plan to spend time with your family but things do not always go as per the plans. But you do it all for the family – to earn and provide for the family.
You give money and things to your family. But what does your family need the most?
Your time.
For your kids, your time spent with them is life precious jewels that embed in their memories forever.
The concept of “family” has changed a great deal in recent times, and there are now various forms of families and different styles of parenting. However, one thing remains certain; whatever the term “family” may mean to you, it is of utmost importance in your child’s life.
The family where your child grows up has a big influence on how he or she deals with relationships, copes with situations, and learns about living life. It’s only possible if you proactively be a part of the family.
And for that to happen, you need to block out family time in your schedule.
Family time is also important because if children don’t get the required attention, they might do something that could get them in trouble.
Some stay-at-home parents or moms may think that they are somehow “better” than other parents or moms, who stay away from home for most of the time. This is a misconception.
We often think that it’s all about quantity when it comes to the time we spend with our kids, whereas it is the quality time that we need to give our family and children. Your kids care less about the hours you spend with them than how you spend your time with them.
As your children get older and become teenagers, it becomes tougher to spend family time with them. It’s mainly because life keeps you busy and your children reach a stage where their friends are the main priority.
As a parent, you have to be willing to go down to their level and enter their world. Sometimes you have to be creative or let them decide what they want to do as a family. But never give up on spending family time with your teens, and they may appreciate it more than what they express.
According to studies, healthy families make family time for talking and listening, accepting differences, showing affection and encouragement, sharing chores and decision making, keeping in touch, and making time for each other.
For those who still doubt the importance of family time, mentioned below are a few points to put things in better perspective. Here are 10 reasons why family time is important:
The main reason why family time is important is because you need to develop ties and bond with your family. Often kids decide to join gangs or groups because they welcome them in, to become a part of their family.
Your kids need a sense of belonging and security, as they need to feel they have someone they can turn and look up to, for anything. Spending family time together ensures that a deep, strong, family bond develops.
Another good reason of spending time with family directly relates to the need to share, talk, and listen to each other as a family.
Parents often think that it would be tough to talk to their children, who think differently from grown-ups. However, parents tend to forget their own time, as how it was for them when they were young! The people you liked were mostly those who listened to what you had to say, similarly, you need to listen to what your children have to say. Listening doesn’t mean only hearing the words your child is saying, but also feeling what your child is trying to convey.
You need to listen without jumping in with answers, criticizing, or giving your own viewpoints. You need to show that you are involved in the conversation, by stopping all other work you are doing, and just listen to them. Talk directly to your kids, especially teenagers, about alcohol and drugs, and set a good example yourself.
If you do not teach children at home, they will learn it elsewhere. As a parent, would you want your children to learn life’s important lessons by undergoing pain, or going the wrong way?
Although children have to learn a few things on their own, it’s important to have family time for discussions, where you can put forth problems or situations in front of them, and then talk about them with your children, seek their opinion, and discuss on the matter. This would help them understand the situations of life in a better way.
Family time is important so that everyone in the family has a way of showing affection to each other, maybe by giving hugs, holding hands, being thoughtful and kind. According to studies, teenagers who remember being praised, hugged, or kissed are likely to do better at school than those who don’t have this experience.
You need to take out that quality family time to ask what each family member has done in the day, and show interest in each other’s lives. People find it very easy to criticize than praise. So make an effort to think about the positive in each person and tell your child what goodness you have noticed, besides teaching them these values.
Instilling family values in children is of great significance nowadays, so that they are not misled by the number of divorces on the rise.
Children mostly imitate the behavior you show towards them. If you are an absent parent, they will be the same to their children in the future. Instead, they often portray worse behaviors than they see.
Thus, spending family time together will build a sense of worth and instill positive family values in your children.
Daily rituals or the little things that you do daily and on special occasions, helps to build a sense of belonging, contentedness, and inner security within the family. Daily rituals like the way you greet each other, or say goodbye, what you do at mealtimes or bedtimes, can all be something to share within your family time.
Families benefit from coming together to celebrate occasions like birthdays, anniversaries, or festivals like Christmas, etc., where they learn the traditions about what happens at these times.
Family time is essential to appreciate, encourage, and value the differences in each family member, knowing that everyone is special in their own way. Allow each family member to be excited about their personal interests, and show respect and tolerance towards them.
Don’t pressurize your family members to be like you, or hide their feelings and differences. Instead, let them feel proud to be themselves.
As we live in a society, we do need to spend time among our family as well as interact with friends and relatives. Knowing that there are people outside the family to turn to in a crisis can make a difference to your child’s happiness. It also increases the chances of them making good friends later in life.
Family time is important to teach younger children, by giving them chance to do things for themselves, under your supervision. Use adult power wisely, and keep control through humor and encouragement, not with punishments or threats.
By spending time with family together, a very special relationship of trust and intimacy develops that helps build a healthy family. Especially when children have a real say in what happens and where everyone feels their views are heard.
One of the most overlooked aspects of education today is parental involvement. Many parents don’t realize the importance of family time and how important it is to involve themselves in their children’s learning.
All parents and family members need to find time and make the effort. Research shows that when parents involve themselves in the family, their children:
- Get superior grades and test scores.
- Graduate from high school at higher rates.
- Are most likely to go on to higher education.
- Have more positive attitudes and behave better.
Spending time with family can be like reading a bedtime story to your kids, checking their homework, getting involved in PTA, discussing your child’s progress with teachers, or anything related also to their academic progress. Or it can be as simple as asking your children, how was their day at school, but ask every day.
So, the importance of family and why you should spend quality time with family doesn’t remain a question anymore. Now you know it helps create a sense of belonging, where you can share ideas, values, and beliefs.
You need to find some ways to spend time together as a family group, and make fun times together. For example, you could share meals together without the distraction of television or cell phones, share information, and learn about what is happening in each other lives. You could play cards, games or sports, take holidays together, go camping, watch movies, or share hobbies.
You will build a stronger family unit by spending more time together, and your family will stick together through rough times, besides enjoying the fun times together.
Show loyalty to your family, stick up for each other so that each person feels confident in the family’s support and pull together to form a united front to find solutions.
Children grow up and are gone before you realize it, so don’t waste the time you have now, and spend it with your family. Remember, that strong families are able to withstand setbacks and crisis with a positive attitude, shared values, and beliefs that help them cope with challenges.