Having a close family can be a joy. However, as kids grow up and develop their own hobbies, it can feel like drifting apart. Parents have important jobs to tend to, kids do their own thing, and before you know it, families don’t know that much about one another at all. Bringing your family closer together will give you a better sense of well-being. One way to bring your family closer together is by using food. It’s a very powerful tool! Here’s how you can use food to bring your family closer together:
Come Up With Family Meals Together
Instead of flying by the seat of your pants and deciding what you’re going to eat on the day you’re going to be eating it, come up with family meals together in advance. You can do this on Sunday ready for the start of the week. If the whole week seems too intimidating to you, try doing just 2 or 3 days in advance. You can let the kids choose something they’d like to eat, and they’ll be more inclined to eat their dinner this way. They’ll be happy you’re getting them involved, and they might even feel a sense of responsibility by deciding what you all have to eat. If you have fussy eaters in your family, allowing them to contribute could even encourage them to break out of their habits.
Image authorGo Shopping Together
Going shopping for food together is another way to instill responsibility into the kids. Write out a list and give them different tasks. It’ll encourage everybody to work together in harmony. One could push the trolley, for example, and the others could collect the items that you need. Don’t turn it into a competition or anything like that, as it could quickly cause arguments between kids. Shopping together can be stressful, but when you give them tasks it can help to make your life easier as well as keep them quiet. You may need to spend a little longer on your food shop, but it will be worth it.
Cook Together
Cooking meals together can help the kids to improve a bunch of different skills. It can also be a wonderful bonding activity for you all. Make sure you give them tasks that are appropriate for their age, and always supervise them if they are using any dangerous equipment. It shouldn’t be too hard for them to use induction pots and pans, but always be cautious when using a knife or something sharp is required. Just some of the benefits of cooking together include:
- Learning about hygiene, healthy foods and the science of cooking.
- Improving maths and english skills.
- Increasing self esteem.
- Having lots of fun as a family!
imageSet Up Fun Cooking Lessons
If you love cooking together, you could always go one step further and set up fun cooking lessons. This is where you could demonstrate how to cook something to your kids, and then let them use what they’ve learned to make something themselves. It gives them a chance to improve their problem solving skills, learn from their mistakes, and make some decisions for themselves. Cooking is a key skill for just about anybody, and your kids are going to be great at it from a young age if you do fun things like this! It’s a great idea for a rainy day too.
Eat Dinner Together
Families who eat dinner together are closer than those who don’t eat dinner together. There are a ton of benefits to both you and your kids. You’ll all learn more about one another, as you get to spend quality time together without technology getting in the way. Simply chatting about your days can help you all to relieve some stress and get some much needed insight from a different perspective. Not only that, you teach your child better eating habits. They’ll learn to appreciate their food more if you take your time to eat it together. Studies also show that kids who eat dinner as a family are more intelligent, happier, and less likely to get into trouble. Start doing this while your kids are young so that it becomes a habit for you all.
Go On Family Dates
It’s normal for a couple to go on dates together. If you have kids, this might be the only time you get just the two of you. That’s great, you should definitely keep that up. Just make sure you go on family dates together too. Even if you only do this once a month, it’ll help you all to have a great time together and bond over lovely food that somebody else has made. After all, cooking all the time can be stressful, so it’s nice to have a break every so often. Go on family dates to restaurants that you love and you’ll make memories. It might cost you more, but memories are one of the most valuable things that you can have.
Host A Family Cook Off
This is a really fun way to get your whole family together. Giving it the competitive edge can make people take it really seriously and put lots of effort in! You don’t have to limit it to immediate family. Invite your extended family over to join in too. Take hints from a game show or make up your own rules. You could even split the family into two teams by pulling names out of a hat. If you wish you could spend more time together as a family, this could be the perfect opportunity to do it! You could even include prizes to make it even more exciting. Get as creative as you like.
For years people have used food as a way to enjoy one another’s company, have a good time and feel closer to each other. It’s no different today. If you want to feel closer to your family and bring everyone closer together, try using some of these tips to make it happen. If you have ideas of your own, leave them below.
