The Proven Benefits of Family Time
With the rise of two-income households, the last three generations of children have been impacted by the lack of family time. Today’s world can feel chaotic and it’s easy to miss out on prime opportunities to spend time with the members of your immediate family.
Family time has a variety of benefits for children. Dedicated quality time helps a child’s confidence, emotional stability, family bond, communication skills and even academic performance and behavioral concerns. Plus, it has the added benefit of memory-making which will later result in your children becoming better and more engaged parents themselves.
Bonding
The key to having a closer relationship with your children as they get older is establishing a strong emotional bond with them when they are young. This can be difficult for working parents who are juggling a household, work, and family. However, each hour spent with your children in conversation, playtime, or adventure creates not only memories, but builds a bond that increases trust over time. The greater the emotional bond the more likely a child will be willing to share problems and challenges with parents over time. This level of trust also increases a child’s respect for their parents.
Communication
Children are sponges. They learn how to speak and communicate by watching the people around them. In early years, the interactions between you and your child (and you and other members of the household) will become the basis for how they learn to communicate with others. Spending time together increases the opportunity to learn solid communication skills that your child will carry with them into other settings as they get older, like school.
Grades
Parents who spend time with their children at home reading to them and encouraging them to learn more about the world around them find that their children do better academically than children who are left to their own devices for learning and exploring the world around them. Guidance with education, a positive influence when developing curiosity and a love of learning, and good emotional well-being will all help your child be successful in school.
Behavior
A solid bond with your child could lead to fewer incidents of aggression and rebellious behavior as a pre-teen and teenager. Regular conversation and family time help to reduce a child’s feelings of anger, anxiety, depression, and urges to engage in high-risk behavior. While it’s no guarantee that spending time with your children when they are younger will help them be more angelic as teenagers, studies have shown quality time and bonding does reduce the risk of undesirable behaviors in older children.
We know it’s hard to fit more into your already busy day but dedicating time on a regular basis to spend with your family is an investment that pays off for everyone you care about, including yourself.
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