WAYS TO MAKE YOUR FAMILY HAPPIER

My husband works a crazy schedule, and ends up with about 7 days in a row every month where he’s home with us. This throws off our schedule and sometimes it’s hard to spend so much time together as a family. It’s a lot of together time! What we really need to do is “do” something instead of just sitting at home. Here are five new things that we’ve decided to try. They may not be new ideas or “a-ha!” kind of ideas, but they’re a great way to get back to the basics.

Get Moving

My husband exercises a lot. Me? Not so much. So we’ve decided to take on a more healthy, active lifestyle. It’s something that we are hoping to instill in our children while they are so young. It’s easy to walk, instead of drive to the park, and we always take a basketball or soccer ball to keep the kids running around.

This is an easy, smart idea and it’s simple to incorporate into our daily routine.

Snuggle Up

Once a week, we throw blankets down on the carpet, pop in a kid-friendly movie and make some popcorn for movie night. We all snuggle in the blankets and just enjoy each other.

Other times, the kids all pile in bed with us and we read or wrestle or talk and giggle. Those are some of the best times we spend together.

Cook Dinner as a Family

Or any meal for that matter! Not every night, but at least once a week we decide as a family what we’ll have for dinner. Everybody can pick something . . . it just has to be something healthy (although one of my daughter’s always requests cookies no matter what!)

Everybody gets a job, and it’s fun to watch the kids learn the cooking basics. Not only that, kids will also learn how to measure, what teamwork is all about, and being creative.

I’ve also found that if they help make the meal, they’re more likely to eat it as well.

Stick to The Schedule

Like I said, when dad’s home, the schedule gets out of whack. Which throws me and the kids all out of whack. This is something I realize must remain the same consistently.

It’s important that we always wake up at the same time, eat breakfast, and get out the door at the same time. The kids need to know that in the evenings after naptime they get to play for a bit, do homework, have dinner, take baths, and go to bed. They know what to expect and that makes everything just flows better; the kids aren’t cranky and neither am I! Which of course makes dad happy too!

Get a Family Hobby

Ours happens to be gardening. The kids know names of flowers, bushes and trees in our yard. They help pull weeds and plant seeds. We let them help us decide what to plant each season and they get to watch things grow. I like that our kids get to see where our food comes from and how it grows.

What makes your family happy?

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