Tips for Surviving Quality Time with Family

Spending quality time with family can be such a great thing, if you have realistic expectations and know what to do.

Quality time with family can be challenging if your expectations are too high.

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You might think, “Oh this year we are going to take all the kids and go overnight to the snow and have such a magical holiday weekend”.

Well this is entirely possibly, just make sure you have realistic expectations. Don’t expect every child behave every step of the way and make sure to expect at least one or two meltdowns.

Now if those things don’t happen, then GREAT! Even more magical. But it’s easier to expect a few bumps in the magical weekend spending quality time with family than go into the weekend with unrealistic expectations for your kids.

There are things you can do though to have a great time spending quality time with family. There are items to bring to avoid complete meltdowns and there are places that are entirely kid friendly to make that quality time with family even better.

Pack a Go-Bag

No, I do not mean an emergency go-bag or anything like that. I mean a “going out” bag.

This will be filled with items that will keep the kids entertained and fed.

Fill it with snacks, toys, electronics, books, etc. Whatever will keep your kid entertained.

This ensures that you can stay out and about doing whatever activity with your family that you are in the middle of doing.

The snacks will ensure that your kids don’t complain about hunger or get moody cranky in the middle of the adventure or activity.

Having things to do to keep them entertained if there is any wait time or down time will ensure calm and occupied kids.

This will also allow some down time for the kids if there are overly stimulating activities happening.

We usually will pack some snacks and our kids Fire tablets to keep them entertained during road trips or waiting in long lines.

Take Breaks

If you kids take naps, then try to work the activities around nap times or some quiet time.

Kids get overwhelmed and overstimulated easily and need that downtime to wind down and not get crazy.

Taking breaks whether that is going back to a hotel and relaxing in the room or going to the car for a quick break to rest and read a book quietly can drastically improve their mood and in turn, the overall family experience.

Nothing ruins some good quality time with family like a cranky overtired crying kid.

Another tip is to work travel time into naps. We try and do car rides when it could be nap time because a car nap, while not the best sleep, is better than no nap at all.

Even if you are over at families house, if you have a stroller, take kiddo on a stroller walk and walk around the neighborhood and let them take a little mental quiet time break or nap if they fall asleep in the stroller.

Stay on Routine

Now no one really wants to stay on a normal routine on vacation or when there are fun activities planned. I’m not saying stick to it hour by hour, but a general gist will also help.

Stick to bedtimes if they kids have a time that they consistently go to bed every night. Try and hit that bedtime mark by at least within 30-40 minutes of their usual bedtime.

This will help with the moods the next day.

While they may be fine that day if they skip nap and go to bed late, the next day you will pay for it.

Try and stay to the routine of eating around the same time and sleeping around the same time. This way even coming back from vacation or a trip won’t completely have them thrown off trying to get “back to normal”.

Enjoy the Moment

Us as moms, and dads too, we want to capture every moment of whatever activity we are doing spending quality time with family.

We want to make sure we can look back on those moments so we video it or take a million photos of everything that happens.

But what that usually means, is that we are missing out on actually being in that present moment.

By all means, take the photos mama, I am hugely guilty of this myself too. But take the photos and then put it down and enjoy the moment. Chances are you won’t ever have that exact moment again.

You can have a photo to look back on those times, but use the memories created to share the story of that photo.

Pick Kid Friendly Locations

Choosing places that have kid friendly options available are going to make the quality time with family that much more enjoyable.

Chances are your kids do not want to go eat at a white table cloth type of restaurant, so save that for date nights.

Take them to restaurants that are lively and loud, that way your loud screaming kids will blend right in!

Vacation places like Disneyland, DisneyWorld, LegoLand are all options that cater to kids specifically.

Also, choose vacations or places to visit with kids friendly options like water parks, hotels with kid friendly vibes like Great Wolf Lodge, small amusement parks, splash pads, zoos or kid museums, etc.

This will ensure kids won’t get bored 10 minutes into the activity and start complaining about it. If there are things for them to do, they are more likely to enjoy the quality time with family.

Even vacations like Hawaii and tropical islands usually have some sort of kid options or even take lessons like surfing or snorkling for the kids to enjoy and learn something new while on a family fun day.

At-Home Options:

Here are some at-home options to spend quality time with family if you want ideas for staying home ideas. Click here to download image shown below for printing.

Hopefully this gave you some options and ideas of how to have a great time spending quality time with family and allows you to have an enjoyable family vacation or trip.