9 Ideas for Creating Meaningful Family Moments
When your children grow up, they’ll forget much of what happened in their childhood. However, there are certain moments that will remain engraved in their minds and hearts. Surely, they’ll be those in which they were been able to enjoy your attention and your presence. Creating meaningful family moments is a way to nurture the soul of the little ones, fill them with love, and offer them those experiences that will stay with them for life. Don’t know how to start? Here are some ideas!
Sometimes we think that it takes big gestures or large sums of money to please our children. But, in reality, there’s nothing more valuable for a child than to know that they’re loved, chosen and prioritized by their parents. How do we achieve this? We must offer them quality time, share activities, and create routines that foster their sense of belonging. Here are some of the simplest and most fun ideas.
Check out these 9 ideas for creating meaningful family moments
There are certain moments that lend themselves especially well to making different plans. For example, Christmas parties, birthdays or summer vacations. However, it is important that we find some moments within the daily routine to share with the little ones. We don’t have to wait for a special occasion, but make those small daily spaces special. With these ideas, it will be easier to achieve it:
1. Cooking as a family
Cooking with children is a fun and educational experience. In addition, it’s an activity that we can easily include in our daily lives.
This idea not only allows you to spend time with your kids, but also encourages their self-esteem and autonomy. By allowing them to help you prepare the food, they’ll feel capable and will develop different skills.
At the same time, it’s an excellent option to improve the attitude of picky children toward food.
Try to have enough time and be patient, as the objective is to enjoy it as a family.
2. Share themed evenings
Themed evenings are ideal for creating meaningful family moments during the weekend. Simply select a theme and create an evening that revolves around it. For example, if the idea this week is magic, you can have a Harry Potter movie marathon. If it’s learning about Mexico, you can try recreating Mexican costumes and cooking Mexican food.
This activity won’t only be fun, but it will also stimulate creativity and allow you all to learn about different topics. Each week, a different member of the family can choose the theme!
3. Have a storytelling contest
Reading with children is a very necessary and beneficial activity. But what if we go a step further and encourage them to create their own books and stories? Each member of the family can choose a theme for their story, write it, illustrate it, and bind it. Finally, a reading day can be organized where everyone’s works are put together.
4. Create a family photo album
Family photographs become great treasures that allow us to travel to other times and relive adventures. But, in addition to viewing them, creating them can also be a lot of fun.
For this family activity, select a specific event, such as a trip to another city or a summer vacation. Start collecting the photos and then put them together in an album where you can add notes, drawings, stickers, and comments.
This project will be a great way to unite you in a common goal that you can enjoy many years later and reminisce about.
5. Learn skills together
For a child, there’s nothing more satisfying than seeing how their parents are interested in their tastes and get involved in them. Therefore, a great way to create meaningful family moments is to sign up for some kind of course or workshop with your children. Some activities you could share and find interesting are the following:
- Take skateboarding lessons
- Learn to draw
- Play paddle tennis or other sports
- Visit museums and libraries
- Go to a dance class
6. Get in touch with nature
Contact with nature brings enormous benefits to both children and adults. For this reason, it can be an excellent idea to create a family routine that involves nature.
Choose a corner in the countryside, on the beach, or in the mountains that you especially like and that’s close to home. Then, organize small getaways on a regular basis. You can take what you need for a picnic or for fun. In any case, with time, this will become a place to disconnect and be with the ones you love the most.
7. Play board games
Sharing an afternoon of board games is one of the easiest and most appropriate ways to create meaningful moments as a family. There’s a multitude of options, for all tastes and ages, so you can vary them so you don’t get bored. They’re also ideal for teaching children to take turns, follow the rules, develop concentration, and plan and implement strategies.
8. Make crafts to decorate the house
Most children love to do crafts, as they allow their imagination to run wild and give free rein to their creativity. So, you can hold different sessions to create decorations for the house throughout the year.
For example, you can make Christmas motifs or some special ones for Valentine’s Day or Halloween night.
9. Celebrate a special day
Finally, it’s also possible to take advantage of those days that are already meaningful in and of themselves in order to create beautiful family routines around them. For example, you can adopt the tradition of pampering each family member on their birthday. Some ideas that can be applied are preparing a special breakfast, decorating the kitchen in their honor, or creating a touching handmade gift. These preparations will fill your little ones with excitement and teach them beautiful ways to express their affection.
Creating meaningful family moments is the best legacy
It may be that, in our busy daily routines, we feel that there’s no time to dedicate to these activities. However, such moments play a fundamental role in the formation of children’s personalities, self-esteem, and attachment bonding. The memories of these moments shared as a family will be the happy place to which they will return, as adults, to recall how happy and loved they were during their childhood.
All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.
- Migliorini, L., Cardinali, P., & Rania, N. (2011). La cotidianidad de lo familiar y las habilidades de los niños. Psicoperspectivas, 10(2), 183-201.
- Páez, D., Fernández, I., Campos, M., Zubieta, E., & Casullo, M. (2006). Apego seguro, vínculos parentales, clima familiar e inteligencia emocional: socialización, regulación y bienestar. Ansiedad y estrés, 12(2-3), 329-341.