Great Family Advice for Combining Fun and Functionality

Raising a family is indeed a serious business, but that doesn’t mean it has to be devoid of any fun and laughter.

On the contrary, it is, in fact, the lighter side of life which makes the hard lessons easier to learn.

As the famous Mary Poppins once said, “a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down…” Perhaps you are wondering how to go forward and enjoy family time, especially if you feel that you did not have a functional example to follow from your own upbringing.

Then take heart and be encouraged because life is all about learning new things, and why not have a little fun while you are about it?

Now that you know spending quality time with family is important, try these family communication activities to mark the importance of family time.

Read on to find some great family advice 101 on how to spend more time with family.

1. Having fun takes time and planning

Although some of the most special memories are made spontaneously when something unexpected happens, it is also true that having fun usually entails some purposeful planning and setting aside the time to be together as a family.

It is very easy to become caught up in a busy work schedule, but remember that no one on their deathbed has ever wished they had spent more time at work. 

Rather than having regrets later, while you have the time now, use it wisely to invest in your precious family relationships and explore exciting ways to strengthen family relationships. 

2. Friends make all the difference

Whether it’s a camping trip, a day at the lake, or an evening playing board games, it’s always more fun when some friends come along too.

Encourage your children to invite their friends to join your family time.

Perhaps those friends do not have stable homes and your family may be the only example they get to see of a happy, functional family.

You will also be teaching your children to be inclusive rather than exclusive and to share their times of fun and laughter. It is also a good tip on how to improve family communication and have a good time with your family. 

It is certainly true that as you are a blessing to others, you yourself will be blessed in return.

3. It’s all about talking and listening

Yes, communication is where it starts and ends when it boils down to family tips on enhancing a family’s happiness. 

If you listen carefully as your spouse and children speak, not interrupting, and noticing the emotions that accompany their words, you will find that they, in turn, will be more willing to listen when you speak.

Good communication skills are essential to family life in every area, whether it is setting boundaries, making decisions or getting chores done.

And as you get to know each other so well, you will develop those special little family ‘inside jokes’ or even nicknames which go a long way to affirming a sense of belonging within a happy family.

4. Help out the community

In the list of activities to strengthen family relationships, this one figures prominently.

Set aside a day in a month, or allocate a weekend in a month to help out the community.

This is a great opportunity to lead by example and teach your kids about giving back to those in the community who are less privileged and needier.  There are a lot of volunteering opportunities out there to choose from.

You could lend a patient ear and companionship to the old, transport food to feed the hungry and downtrodden, help in maintaining your community as a green area, support a neighborhood charity or even socialize with animals at a local animal shelter.

5. Take a post-meal family stroll

Family spending time together does not need to be an elaborate affair. It could be something as simple as taking a leisurely walk around the neighborhood or at a local park.

Spend time talking on light subjects, enjoying each other’s company and you could also discuss and have a vote on interesting family traditions, activities or rituals to follow moving ahead.

Taking a walk after you eat really is good for you to shake up the routine, improve your health, aid digestion and it helps bring you closer together as a family.

6. Cook together as a family

Spending more time with family, planning for an outing can seem challenging sometimes, with a busy routine.

But cooking together as a family benefits everyone in the family and outweighs the extra cleanup post the collective culinary expedition.

Kids can learn a horde of skills and cultivate positive traits while cooking.

Collaborative skills, communication skills, patience, cooking techniques, taking initiative, resourcefulness and using technology to seek out information on preparing food.

Also cooking a meal together gives you a great opportunity to bond together as a family.

7. Learn a new sport together

If you are looking for great family advice that will allow you to reap tons of benefits in the longer run, pick a sport as a family and pull your socks together to ace it.

Stock plenty of water, sunscreen, and energy to start learning a sport as a family. It could be basketball, soccer, bowling, or tennis.

Playing sports together as a family is one of the most exciting and sure-fire ways to improve mental and physical health as a family, make kids learn to enjoy sports, inculcate discipline and teamwork.

This piece of family advice will help your kids boost their self-confidence and develop a lasting sportsman spirit.

8. Everyone enjoys a riddle

Most people, and especially children, enjoy a good riddle, brain teaser or knock-knock joke.

These are not only useful for light-hearted fun but can also be an excellent way of getting kids to really think about the question before answering.

They instinctively know that the first and obvious answer they think of is probably not correct, so they dig deeper and sometimes the answers they come up with are even better than the ‘correct’ one!

And while you are all having a good laugh, the amazing fact is that healthy and healing chemicals are being released into your brain – no wonder they say laughter is the best medicine.

So here are ten great family riddles, brainteasers, tongue twisters and jokes which you may find helpful and amusing as you seek to combine fun and functionality in your daily life as a family.

Feel free to make up a few of your own as you go along, and add them to your favorite ‘spend time with family’ collection of family advice. 

1. Question: Before Mount Everest was discovered, what was the tallest mountain in the world?

Answer: Mount Everest

2. Question: Which weighs more, a pound of feathers or a pound of gold?

Answer: Neither. They both weigh a pound.

3. Knock, knock

Who’s there?

Lettuce

Lettuce who?

Lettuce in, it’s cold out here!

4. Question: A house has four walls. All of the walls are facing south, and a bear is circling the house. What color is the bear?

Answer: The house is on the north pole, so the bear is white.

5. Question: If you have only one match, on a freezing winter day, and you enter a room that contains a lamp, a kerosene heater, and a wood-burning stove, which should you light first?

Answer: The match, of course.

6. FuzzyWuzzy was a bear,

FuzzyWuzzy had no hair,

FuzzyWuzzy wasn’t very fuzzy…

was he???

7. Question: How many beans can you put in an empty bag?

Answer: One. After that, the bag isn’t empty.

8. Knock, knock.

Who’s there?

A herd.

A herd who?

A herd you were home, so I came over!

9. Question: What do you call a crocodile with a GPS?

Answer: A Navi-gator.

Well, at the close of this article on the best family advice, here is a final riddle for you

10. Question: Almost everyone needs it, asks for it, gives it, but almost nobody takes it. What is it?

Answer: Advice!

What are you waiting for? Just get into the fun zone with the kids and see your bond with them grow even as they learn at every step having fun with you!

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Rachael Pace Author

Rachael Pace is a noted relationship writer associated with Marriage.com. She provides inspiration, support, and empowerment in the form of motivational articles and essays. Rachael enjoys studying the evolution of loving partnerships... Read more and is passionate about writing on them. She believes that everyone should make room for love in their lives and encourages couples to work on overcoming their challenges together. Read less

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Older family members step in to mediate or share advice

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