Creative Ways to Keep Your Family Connected

With spring sports in full swing and recitals and finals on the horizon, families really start to feel the time crunch this time of year. Even as daylight hours continue to grow, family time often seems to shrink. When schedules get this crazy, it’s a trick to just keep track of everyone’s whereabouts and obligations.

So how do you stay connected to the people you live with – not just their calendars? The answer’s simple: Creatively. Here are four secrets to squeezing the best out of limited down time and increasing connections in the smaller moments of your family’s day. Institute ‘No Phone’ Zones. When you only have 20 minutes a day with your teen, not spending that time checking your Facebook  feed seems like a no-brainer. But many of us are so tied to our electronic gadgets we don’t realize how addicted we’ve become. Turn it off, leave it in the car, put it in a drawer -- do whatever you have to do to keep yourself from looking at a screen even once while your child’s in the same room. We promise that email, text or status update will still be viewable after your son has been dropped off at baseball practice or your daughter is in bed.


Think outside the box.
Many families know that, given busy schedules and pressing homework, sitting around the dinner table all together is impossible. So they simply give up the goal of gathering as a unit. But there must be some time of day – whether it’s 7 a.m. or 8:30 p.m. – when the whole family is under one roof. Use that time. Instead of family dinner, have a nighttime family snack. Kids can’t resist the smell of popcorn popping or the lure of apple slices smeared with chocolate  spread or peanut butter. Put out a plate of something simple and appealing and get a check on everyone’s day.


Start ‘Pay It Forward’ at Home. 
To “pay it forward” is to ask the receiver of a bit of kindness to “repay” it to someone else instead of to the original giver. Implementing this little game of goodwill could yield immeasurable gains in your home, and it takes very little time. Design a simple “Pay It Forward!” card and give one to each family member, then let them loose on one another.Think of little ways to lighten a family member’s load or make them smile, and  instead of taking credit for the bit of kindness, simply leave the card. The goal is to never have a card for more than a day – and certainly no more than a single card at one time.

Make Hellos and Goodbyes Count.
In a tightly scheduled family, interaction is often relegated to a series of pickups and drop-offs throughout the day. You can think of this as not enough quality time together, or as an opportunity for more of what are among the best emotional moments between people – the hello and the goodbye. The way we greet one another and the way we leave one another leaves imprints on our hearts, so make the most of the many tries you get. Be intentional and positive. Swallow any inclination you have to nag, yell or ridicule in these moments. Make eye contact when you say “I love you” (and always say “I love you”).