Take a Spring Break for the Health of Your Family
It’s Spring Break and, even if you can’t get off from work or afford a trip, don’t let that discourage you from taking a break with your children. A week with the children at home is more than an extended weekend – it’s an opportunity for families to improve communication, teamwork, and unity. The family is the first and most important place to learn compassion, confidence, responsibility, and trust. Taking time away from your busy life to focus on your family is an investment in the emotional and physical well-being of the whole family.
Below are daily experiences you can enjoy with your children that encourage and promote family unity and fun. Families that stay together take time to play together!
A trip to the beach. We’re lucky in Houston because we have Galveston so close by. While you’re there, you can camp overnight in one of their many campgrounds. Camping builds teamwork out of necessity.
A visit to a park with a picnic lunch. Being surrounded by nature and hiking trails helps kids disconnect from their digital world. It also cultivates calmness, and conversation comes easily when you’re relaxed and not fretting about who’s texting who. Playing together as a family builds respect and security in children, and every child needs to feel more secure in their home.
An undisclosed destination. Plan this trip the night before during dinner. Take a map out (a real map works best) and have the kids help plan a place to visit within a specific mile range. For example, you can decide you have time to explore a place 30 miles away. Look online and see what the possible sights are you’d like to see. You’d be surprised how adventurous and fun this trip is. It was a favorite in my family.
Explore exotic cuisine and countries by visiting a food truck. This works best for teens and tweens. Have them study a country and its most famous dish. From there, find a food truck that hosts the country’s cuisine. Your family learns a wealth of information about the culture, tastes, and geography of people in other countries. This teaches an acceptance and appreciation for diversity.
Pick one activity you will all participate in. The best way to mentor sportsmanship, fairness, and teamwork is to play a game with your children. If you’re staying in, take out Monopoly, Uno, or Twister. If you want to go out, go bowling or try an escape room. What you play doesn’t matter; what matters is the children seeing mom and dad playing with them. Teach them good sportsmanship if you lose and share some laughs.
Families are the most precious of all relationships. They thrive on togetherness, honesty, play, and teamwork. Spring Break offers you an opportunity to experience and mentor all of these and more. Show your kids you value time with them; take a break for spring.