Family Connection: How to Bring Your Family Closer Together
Looking for ways to bring your kids together and strengthen your family connection? Here at The Adventure Challenge, that’s what we’re all about! We knew so many couples and families who wanted to be closer than ever before, but weren’t sure where to start. That’s why we created The Adventure Challenge books - to support you and your family as you deepen your relationships, and to help you have a lot of fun on the way. But for now, check out these five ways to strengthen your family connection!
Ways to Strengthen Your Family Connection
Want to know the key to bringing your family closer together? It’s probably simpler than you think.
If you want to build family connection, start thinking about creating shared experiences. So often, we live in the same house but lead very different lives. It’s in the quality time of shared experiences that family connection thrives.
#1 - Trace your family roots
One of the most powerful things that your family has in common is a shared history, and tracing these roots is an incredible way to strengthen your family connection. One of the best aspects of exploring your ancestry together is that this has the potential to deepen family connection not just between you and your kids, but also in the family more widely. This can be a great connection point between your children and their grandparents.
Don’t just tell your kids about their family history, show it. Take them on trips to see the places you or your parents lived when growing up. Play them a song that’s special to you and your partner, and share the memories attached. Pull out boxes of memorabilia and talk them through the meanings of each piece. Invite them to learn something that’s significant to the family, like a recipe or a tradition. Bring in other family members; invite your siblings or your parents to share what they know about your heritage. Learning about the roots you share is going strengthen your family connection in the present, and it’s going to help your children develop a strong sense of identity and confidence in the future.
#2 - Hold consistent family mealtimes
This is one of the most significant things you can do for your family connection, but it’s also hard to pull off! Especially as your kids get into their teenage years and everyone has busy schedules of their own, family dinnertime can be more and more difficult to accomplish. If that’s the position you find yourself in, start small. There’s no need to aim for dinner together every single night. Start with one night a week that you ask every family member to be home for, and have dinner together, all at the same time, around the table together.
Strengthening family connection is just one of the benefits of consistent shared mealtimes. Studies have shown that eating frequent family meals has so many benefits for children as they grow. It’s linked to lowered rates of mental health issues and substance abuse and higher levels of self esteem, as well as healthier eating habits long-term. So, what are you waiting for?
#3 - Try new things together
If family connection is based around shared experiences, then it makes sense that trying new things together is an incredible way to have fun and create memories!
After a while, the things that used to make us feel connected to each other become too familiar. It’s time to find new ways to create family connection! That’s the whole reason we created The Adventure Challenge: Family Edition! This scratch-off book has 50 unique challenges designed to bring your family together in fun and creative ways! If you’re stuck in a rut, trying something new as a family is the perfect way to boost your connection.
#4 - Protect screen-free times
You don’t need to book an expensive vacation or plan a complicated activity to have quality time with your family. Sometimes, family connection is as simple as getting rid of the distractions! Mark out some times in the week that are going to be screen-free for your family, and explain it to your kids; you want to clear away the distractions to make time for other kinds of fun. You could have a ‘phone basket’ where everyone leaves their devices, or you could go a step further and switch off your internet connection for an hour or two!
It’s up to you how you want to spend this time investing in family connection. Going to play outside, pulling out a board game, or just sitting around the dinner table and enjoying a meal without the fear of interruptions are all great places to start. Parting with our phones can be a challenge, so check out our guide to how phone addiction is hurting your relationships and how you can fix it for more ideas!
#5 - Make family traditions
Family traditions bring you together by creating a sense of unique family identity and shared experiences. Traditions generate excitement: you know they’re coming, so you can look forward to the family camping trip or the backyard Easter egg hunt. Anticipating something together will bring your family closer!
Every time you take part in a family tradition, it stirs up the memories of the last time you did it. Highlighting this shared history fosters family connection and gets the nostalgia flowing. The more unique the tradition is, the more strongly your loved ones will associate it with your family, so don’t be afraid to break outside of the box and create family traditions that are totally unprecedented.
Creating family connection in day-to-day life
None of these ways to create family connection is super complicated or expensive, and that’s the wonderful thing! With a little bit of intentionality and a readiness to have fun, you can create memories that you will always cherish and relationships that have true depth. And if you need an extra kick-start to your creativity, look no further than our Adventure Challenge: Family Edition. There’s no better way to bring your family closer together!
Check out our list of 10 Things to Do Before School Starts to make the most of summer while it lasts!
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