7 Ways to Spend More Time With Family

This post has been sponsored by Huhtamaki, Inc. makers of the Chinet®

brand. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

“Time is what we want most, but what we use worst.” William Penn

How many times have you heard from your parents, grandparents, and any other parent with kids grown and out of the house the following statement (or something similar), “they grow up so fast, cherish while they are young.” I know I’ve heard it hundreds of times. But, even in this day and age of a global pandemic, it can be hard to find time to be present with our kids with all of the things we have to get done.

Dishes, mow the lawn, laundry, fix the leaky pipe, make food, eat food, feed kids, sleep, work, pay bills, go to health appointments, grocery shopping, soccer games, school, clean poop, poop ourselves, and on and on…

With all of the things we need to do to keep a roof over our family’s head and make sure the children stay alive, it can be difficult to find quantity of time and quality time with our younglings. If you feel like it’s hard to have a good time with your kids, here are 7 ways to spend more time with family:

1. Eat Breakfast Together

This can be a tricky one because everybody has a different morning routine. Kids have school, mom or dad has work, the baby is up at 4 am and you’re not supposed to be up for another 2 hours. It’s tough but possible! Set your alarm so that everyone can be up around the same time to start the day together. It doesn’t have to be a huge breakfast or longer than 15 minutes, but starting the day off together is a great (and unique!) way to spend more time with family. Heck, if people are usually in a hurry, you can use Chinet® Classic WhiteTM plates for food on the go. They are great to toss out after use so you don’t have to worry about doing the dishes after breakfast as you focus on what’s important… Family time!

2. Plan a Weekly Family Night

Many times, we miss out on something simply because we don’t make time for it. When you clear out room on the calendar and write it down, it’s much more likely to happen! Growing up, we set aside Monday night as the time when we didn’t plan other activities so we could be together to play games, go on a family outing, or make a treat together. It’s a great time for a family movie night with some hot apple cider in a Chinet® Comfort Cup® insulated hot cup to keep your drink warm without burning your hands.

3. Plan a Yearly or Monthly trip

Staying on the calendar theme, if you make it an official plan to have a larger family outing at least once a year, or more often as the budget permits, you’ll be able to have great quality time as a family. Though our kids are young, we have already started planning when we can do a couple of camping trips at some nearby sites in the Wasatch mountains!

4. Do DIY projects together

Is there a leaky faucet in the house? The toilet water is constantly running? Or your home office needs a fresh coat of paint? This is a great way to spend time with the family as you work as a team to get the project done! We have done a lot of projects at our house like painting our backyard shed, re-doing our landscaping, and updating a bathroom. The kids love getting involved with easier tasks and love to learn! Plus, it’s a great way to teach your kids handy ways to fix up the house so they will know what to do in the future!

5. Do Chores as a Family

Moms hate chores. Dads hate chores. Kids hate chores. But, they are essential to keep the house in good shape, clean clothes on your back, and food on the table. When you “divide and conquer” on small chores or even work together on big chores, you’ll be able to teach good habits to your kids and buy up more previous time for fun activities later. Doing chores with your kids is also a great time to talk to them to get to know them better. I’ve had a lot of good conversations over cleaning a kitchen or folding some clothes.

6. Set rules around screen time for certain hours of the day/week

A very effective way to spend more time with family is to eliminate other distractions. Setting time limits on devices, Wi-Fi routers, and TV shows opens up valuable time for human interaction. Screens are an easy way to stay entertained but they limit our ability to fortify relationships with those we love and care about. At the end of the day, it isn’t that one person you’re arguing with on Twitter that you hope will be at your funeral… It's your close friends and family.

7. Make a Meal Together (and eat together!)

This is a great way we love to spend more time together as a family while including the young kids. Our boys may not know much about baking or cooking, but they can take a pre-filled cup of water and put it into a bowl. They feel like they are “helping”, we get to spend precious time with our kids. It’s a win-win. Plus, it’s even better when you invite your neighbors, friends, or relatives over to enjoy it with you. Yet another great moment to pull out the Chinet® Classic WhiteTM plates to provide that little extra convenience to your night so you can have more time with family.

What do you do to spend more time with your family? What routines have you put in place to buy you some extra time? Share your thoughts with everyone below!

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Author: Andrew McFarlane

Andrew McFarlane is a full-time dad and a parenting blogger. He shares advice for new parents, experienced parents, and any parent in-between at PapaPerspective.com. He does this through positive parenting methods, the best parenting gear, and lots of laughter. When he's not blogging about the best parenting practices, he'll be out taking photos, playing hockey, or spending time with his wife and 2 boys.