If you are a parent asking yourself how to spend time with kids, you are not alone. Spending time with kids is unfortunately one of the last items in the many parent’s daily routine. Given their personal and professional commitments, parents are left with minimal time for their kids. The truth is children spell love as T..I..M..E.
A typical daily routine of a busy parent goes with cooking, housekeeping, working and attending to kids, and family work. Amidst such busy life, parents often oversee the necessity to spending quality time with your kids.
If you are a guilty parent unable to dedicate time for your children, though you love to, here is a simple solution: switch to quality time with kids. Wondering how to spend time with kids when you have no time for yourself? Here we curated simple ways to spending time with your kids.
Also Read: Best Extracurricular Activities for Children
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Home-based ideas for spending time with your kids
For the bounty of benefits it presents, parent-child time is worth every second. As famously said, no one ever regrets spending quality time with kids. Here are home-based ideas to spend time with your kids:
Weekly dance session
Arrange for a weekly dance session with your kids. Come what may never skip that time for anything else. Turn into a child and dance merrily along with your little ones. Besides having a relaxing time for yourself, this is one of the wonderful ways to spend time with your kids.
Cooking/baking
Involve your children in cooking and baking. You could seek their help in washing the vegetables, mixing the dough, cookie cutting, decorating, or making salads and other simple recipes. This is a lovable way of spending quality time with children and also teaches them essential life skills.
DIY activities
Kids love to do and learn. DIY is also one of the effective ways to engage kids at home. Why not make that DIY time your bonding time with your children? Grab that DIY Kit and head-on with a fun adventure where you create little wonders out of cardboard, clay, and other DIY material.
Bed time fun
If your daytime is fully packed and does not let you spend time with your children, make sure not to miss their bed routine. Join them in giving them a night warm bath, a story reading session, or talking about the day at the dinner table or on your balcony, or narrating moral stories for children while gazing at the stars and the moon.
Gardening
Gardening is one of the activities that children love to engage in. The power of getting close to nature by gardening is well established in destressing busy parents. Next time when you want to spend quality time with kids, choose gardening. You can teach the beauty and secrets of nature to your kids and spend time together as well in a go.
House chores
Request your children to help you with lighter house chores. Children will like tasks such as changing the furnishing, arranging the books and toys, festive decoration, washing your car, and such activities. Doing such chores together is a way to spend more time with your kids.
Indoor games
Remember playing indoor games in your childhood? They can be so relaxing. Spend fun time with kids playing indoor games at least weekly once. You could also teach them your childhood games as a way to spending time with kids.
Brain teasing activities
Solving puzzles in newspapers, books, and kids’ magazines is a great way to sharpen your little one’s mind as well as grab some quality with kids. Try tongue twisters, brain teasers, riddles, and more along with your kids to relax as well as spend more time with them.
Watch TV together
With TV shows turning global, today there is no dearth of family shows and children’s shows. Spend time together with your child watching adventurous, entertaining, and educative TV shows meant for children. This is a brighter idea than watching videos on mobile.
Besides, this gives you an opportunity to talk, share and communicate with your children on their areas of interest.
Pretend play
When was the last time you turned into a patient for your little doctor’s daughter or a customer at your little ones’ play restaurant? Pretend play is one activity that every child loves.
Grab quality time with your kids by pretend playing as a doctor-patient, teacher-student, thief-police, customer-chef and your little one knows better than us!
Pets and friends
This technique to spend quality time with kids works wonders especially when you have a single child. Boost your child’s happiness quotient by inviting their friends for playdates.
Surprise them with special games, snacks, and fun activities so your child will treasure those moments for a long.
Similarly, encouraging children to play with pets is a great way to boost their happiness levels. Involve your kids while walking the dog, pet’s play time or giving a bath to the pet.
Break time is kids’ time
Here is one good tip for all parents working from home: tweak your break times into your kid’s time. Enjoy quick little fun activities such as pillow fights, coloring, and painting as quick fun ways to relax between your work and spend time with kids.
Out-of-the-box ideas to spend time with your kids
If you are a parent of grown-up children, here are some out-of-the-box ideas to spending time with kids.
Join hobby classes/learn a new skill together
Observe your child’s interests in learning new skills. Music, arts, martial arts, dancing, sports – what does your child love to learn? Enroll in such classes together so you will also learn a new skill along with grabbing a chance to turn into your child’s bestie no soon.
Do social service together
Make your weekend time into social service time along with your grown-up child. Teach underprivileged children, and work in orphanages, old-age homes, and charity organizations along with your child. By doing so, you are not only spending time with them but also carving them into more human individuals.
Outdoor ways to spend time with kids
Never miss an opportunity to spend quality time with kids. Here are some outdoor ideas to let your hair loose along with your kids and have fun together.
Scavenger hunt
Does the scavenger hunt need any new introduction? Whether it is for a family gathering or as a fun activity with your child, nothing beats a scavenger hunt. Turn your outdoor time with your children into more adventurous and fun with a scavenger hunt.
Do exercise together
No, we don’t mean that you hit the gym along with your kid. Instead, go cycling, swimming, walking, and trekking with kids to spend time together. You can create refreshing memories while reaping the benefits of working out.
Play in sand/water/puddles
Beach time anyone? Play along with your little one on the rain puddles, beach sand, and water to smile and have fun along with your children.
Go camping
Take your children to camping regularly. This will give them time away from digital life as well as quality time to spend with nature. Suggested Reading: Camping Tips for Beginners
They say, become a child to understand your child better. We don’t believe in any other better way than this, do you?