More and more kids these days are practically addicted to a screen of some sort – their laptops, televisions, tablets. This is leading to a slew of problems in the development of their social skills. We should all be doing more to get off our devices and spend quality time with our children to help raise more well-rounded individuals with good social skills.
Ideas For Activities You Can Do With Your Child
Children are actually very receptive to activities so long as there is an attentive adult around them. Here are a few ideas for ways to spend quality time with your kids.
Gardening
Even if all you’re teaching them is simple gardening like caring for African violets, children benefit greatly from developing a green thumb from an early age. If you add vegetable gardening to the mix, you can even make it an educational activity so they can learn where their food comes from. Don’t know how to grow anything? That’s not a problem – explore along the way and you can learn from your mistakes together.
Sports
Children are naturally energetic, and letting them channel that energy into a sport is a great way to bond and teach them sportsmanship. You don’t need to be a professional at any sport either. Just pick up any odd ball and toss it back and forth – this is also good for developing their spatial cognition. Who knows, they might like the sport enough to take part in it more seriously.
Old Fashioned Board Games
If you’re old enough to remember playing scrabble or happy family around the coffee table, then you know how much fun it was. Not only is this a fun activity that allows your kids to bond with you, it teaches them how to deal with competition and how to lose gracefully.
The Point Behind Quality Time
What is quality time anyway? Many families will spend time in the same room for hours, each busy with their device and disconnected from the rest of the family. This is not “quality” time in any sense of the word. The idea behind spending active time engaging with each other is so that your family (parents and children both) can learn how to cope with the difficulties of life by socializing with each other. There is a reason that family traditions like sitting at a table to eat together have prevailed for so long – they form the basis of our society. Once family units become disconnected from within the family, we can’t really say they are a family can we?
You should strive to create long lasting memories with your children and take an active role in shaping their personality. Don’t assume that because they look outwardly fine that they are, because children have lives of their own and what seems toa small problem to you, is the end of the world to them. Spending time with your kids will help you grow close to them and allow them to get more comfortable with telling you about their biggest problems so you can help them work through it.
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