If you’re looking for holiday activities for families to bond, here are 6 interesting and smart tips:
More inspiration on the holidays and activities for families to bond:
- How to survive the holidays with extended family
- Separating after the holidays
- Before you give gifts this holiday season…
6 Activities for families to bond over the holidays:
1. Look into each other eyes: Life can be hectic and we don’t often make the time to have that meaningful connection that we once had when our kids were babies and we held them for hours. Taking the time to gaze into each other’s eyes is a refreshing reminder, “Oh, it’s you! Where have you been all this time?”
2. Travel: Create a sense of adventure and excitement in your relationships by visiting new places together. Take a break from your surroundings and experience the possibility that you can live in a completely new reality.
Traveling is a great way to recharge your relationships.
Besides providing much needed time away, it returns you refreshed and invigorated and hopeful that you can establish new patterns that avoid you from getting sucked back into the humdrum of everyday living. You need not travel across the ocean. Even a short overnight trip will do the job.
3. Take a class together. Besides spending time together, learning something new is a great way to liven up relationships.
When the brain learns something new, it not only creates new neural pathways, it also brings about more joy and excitement.
Now, do it together with your spouse and your kids and the positive energy is compounded. It also provides a fresh new experience that you can share together.
4. Celebrate each other. Make the time to really show your family how great you think they are.
More than just an appreciation, flood them with positive energy and enthusiasm.
I often have couples do the flooding exercise where they encircle their spouse and profess their admiration.
This exercise can be done with kids too.
Have the child sit in a chair in the middle of a circle, and then family members share three physical characteristics, three behaviors, and three qualities they like about him/her.
They go around in a circle, pausing to look into the person that is sitting’s eyes- with each successive comment they raise their voice and excitement level.
They then shout out a global affirmation of why they love him/her so much.
This exercise really changes the energy in the room and the relationships and allows the spouse or child on the receiving end to truly feel cherished.
5. Surprises. Surprises are a great way to liven up a relationship and interrupt the monotony.
It is often the unexpected, not the actual action, that can reinfuse the passion and anticipation we so often crave.
It could be something as simple as surprising your spouse at work or taking one kid out for a cup of coffee/iced tea that can create a thrill for all again.
6. Appreciations. Holidays are a time for thanking God for all of the miracles that He did for us.
It is no coincidence that the light of appreciation can push away a lot of darkness in relationships.
Once couples and parents start sharing what is good about each other on a regular basis, they begin to shift their attention to what’s right about their relationships and begin to see more and more good.
Resentment dissipates and love intensifies. Taking a few minutes every day to share what you appreciate and why will do wonders for you relationship.
