Family Activities for Different Ages

As part of our class, we discussed that it's important to have family activities for all ages. Every age group has different abilities, skill sets, and wants. Although it may be pretty impossible to satisfy every age group simultaneously, it can be effectively done in rotations. It's for this reason that I thought it might be good to come up with some activity ideas for some general age groups. And since I have nieces and nephews ranging from newborn to ten years old, I have put a few pictures of them throughout the post.

Pre-K

-Creating puppets

-Drawing a family portrait

-Making play dough animals

-Playing tag

-Hide and seek

Elementary School Age

-Freeze Tag

-Kickball

-Treasure Hunt

-Duck Duck Goose

-Sharks and Minos

Adolescents & Teenagers

-Board games

-Murder in the dark

-Soccer

-Miniature golf

-Kick the can

-Badminton

Ideas gathered from funology.com, prekinders.com, familyshare.com

Family Communication

Strong family communication is a difficult skill to develop. Part of this is due to the shared physical proximity of family members. It can cause a lot of tension, annoyance, and flat-out anger. Another difficult aspect of communication arises from personality differences. One family member may be non-confrontational, while another may express every frustration they have. Here are some ideas to improve family communication skills.

-Use active listening techniques

     Encourage, clarify, restate, reflect, summarize, validate

-Don't jump to conclusions

-Avoid being critical

-Pay attention to your nonverbal language

     Facial expression, tone of voice, gestures and mannerisms

-Appear to and be interested

These ideas were gathered from a paper by Clemson University

The Intentional Family

For our class, we recently read the book The Intentional Family. I was pleasantly surprised by how interesting and informative the book was. Since I found it to be such a valuable resource, I thought it would be a great idea to mention some memorable quotes, as well as tips provided in the book.

Quotes

"Family life is like putting a canoe into that great body of water. If you enter the water at St. Paul and don't do anything, you will head south toward New Orleans. If you want to go north, or even stay at St. Paul, you have to work hard and have a plan. In the same way, if you get married or have a child without a working plan for your family's journey, you will likely head "south" toward less closeness, less meaning, or less joy over time. A family, like a canoe, must be steered or paddled, or it won't take you where you want to go."

     -Comparing family intentionality to floating on the Mississippi River

"Being intentional about meal rituals sometimes means throwing out your structure."

"Inflexible family meal rituals can become oppressive."

"Love rituals are a renewable source of fuel to keep us afloat and heading in the direction we fondly wished for when we bravely committed ourselves to be partners for life."

     -In regards to the importance of love rituals in a marriage

"The most successful remarried families encourage special rituals of connection between parents and their biological children, without seeing these as separative."

Recommendations

-Discuss family vacation with all family members. Try to satisfy more than need, and also plan even further in the future.

-In case of a death, find out the wants and desires of the person who is sick, before they pass away. This will prevent a lot of pain and heartbreak later on.

-Couples should pay attention to bedtime rituals. Many couples like to watch TV together at the end of the day, but this may prevent some real connection from occurring.

-Try upgrading the outing rituals you already have in place. For example, this may include specifying a time of discussion on the way to the movies.

-End the family ritual on a positive note. If it's ended on a negative note, it may ruin the memory of the whole experience.

Danny

For my final interview, I talked to my brother Danny. Danny is the first person I interviewed who was a young father. As a result, he had some different experiences than the previous four people I interviewed.

Dan and his family on our yearly vacation

What kinds of activities do you typically do for family recreation?
-We go on hikes. Emily will take the kids to parks, she'll read to them. We just play together.

In your opinion, what are the main benefits and downsides of family recreation?
-Benefits are that you're doing stuff with your family, having fun, getting closer, and laughing together. Downside is that the kids want to play all the time, and nothing else gets done.

As a child, what was your favorite family activity? Why?
-Probably family vacations. I love going to Grandma and Grandpa’s house. Golfing too.

What is your current favorite family recreation activity to do? Why?
-I love to go on family vacations and hikes. Because I feel close to family when we’re doing that. Making memories we can talk about.

Please share a funny or meaningful experience that occurred on one of your family adventures.
-I took my son hiking last weekend, and we went seventeen miles and Sam hiked the whole thing without being carried at all.

Is there an activity you wish your family did together when you were growing up? Why?

-I actually can’t think of any.

Does your family eat dinner together currently, and did they growing up? Reasons why or why not.
-We ate together growing up, but it wasn’t a formal thing. We eat together now, but it’s kind of sporadic because I get home from work after dinner time for the kids.

How are you intentional about family time?
-Usually I just play with the kids when I get home. Or I’ll go on a hike with them on Saturday. We don’t really plan it a week advance. We say our prayers every night as a family, and we try to read our scriptures. Emily reads to the kids every night.

     Danny is such a family man, so it was fun to talk to him about this. One thing he didn't mention, was how he visits my parents at least once every week. While his wife is at young women's, he takes the kids to my parents' house. While he's there, he talks to my Mom and Dad to check up on the family. I know they highly value these times, and appreciate his concern for his siblings.

Handling Contention

One of the best parts of family recreation is what it does for relationships. People learn how to communicate and interact, which in turn, can create strong familial relationships. Unfortunately, some family activities can be somewhat challenging/frustrating, which makes communication a lot less effective. In these situations, contention becomes more common and emotional barriers are built up. When individuals feel that contention, the activity becomes much less enjoyable for every family member. It's for this reason that I decided to share some effective ways to handle family contention.

1. Set ground rules for expressions of anger.

2. Express concerns in a positive manner.

3. Look at the situation from another person's view.

4. Recognize that anger is a choice, and that you can control your emotions.

These are just a few basic suggestions to decrease familial contention. If every member of the family make a conscientious effort to follow these guidelines, moments of anger will likely be significantly decreased.

These ideas were gathered from the website realfamiliesrealanswers.org

Hiking Safety Tips

I'm sure it's pretty obvious from my previous posts, but my family is a hiking family. We go out in good weather, bad weather, pretty much any condition you could think of. As a result, we've had a few experiences where our safety is in jeopardy. An example of this is when we hiked through slot canyons in Bryce Canyon. It was at the peak of summer, and extremely hot. Two of my sisters were in the lead, with my Dad and my uncle a little ways behind. My sisters were quite oblivious and walked right past a rattlesnake. The snake got scared, and started rattling, separating my sisters from the adults. Luckily my uncle thought quickly, and smashed the snake with a rock. It was a scary moment, and made me extra aware of how important safety is. So… here are some quick safety tips for hiking in the winter and summer months.

Winter

• Since the daylight hours are shorter in the winter, it's better to get an early start. Also, take flashlights in case it turns dark.
• Dress in layers and bring appropriate extra equipment.
• Eat and drink frequently.
• Be constantly aware of snow movements around you, in case of avalanche danger.

Summer

• Drink water constantly, and eat salty foods.
• Wear a hat and sunscreen.
• Bring a First Aid kit.
• Bring a whistle or signal mirror in case of emergency
• Pack a map of the trails, as well as a compass.

These suggestions were gathered in part, by active.com and the National Park Service

Gary and Camille

For my first interviews, I decided to interview my parents. They have always emphasized family bonding activities growing up, so I thought they would be a wonderful starting point. Here's my interview with my Dad, Gary.

Here's me and my Dad on our favorite mountain hike.

What kinds of activities do you typically do for family recreation?

-Hiking, I'd say hiking.

In your opinion, what are the main benefits and downsides of family recreation?

-The benefit is that it brings us all together and forms a bond with all of us. The downside is if you do too much recreation, and that's your only focus, it's a directionless life.

As a child, what was your favorite family activity? Why?

- Probably going out do dinner as a family because we didn't do it very often, maybe once a year.

What is your current favorite family recreation activity to do? Why?

-I would say hiking because it involves physical activity, teamwork, and once we depart on a hike, no matter how bad it gets, or how disaffected my children or grandchildren are, they have to keep going. They can't quit. No one can pick them up and take them home.

If you childhood favorite has changed in adulthood, what do you think brought about that change?

-It was just a realization that hiking took us into nature. We didn't do that when I was a kid. We worked, and that's basically it. And then I realized that mother nature was right out there waiting for us.

Please share a funny or meaningful experience that occurred on one of your family adventures.

-I would say a recent one would be when you and I and Mom went to Hidden Valley in Ogden. We had a very nice walk together on a wonderful day. We saw that beautiful view of Mount Ogden. I will remember that as long as I live. Another one would be when we all made it to the top of King's Peak.

Is there an activity you wish your family did together when you were growing up? Why?

-I think it would have been fun to go on more trips together. We just didn't have the money or the time.

Now for my Mom, Camille.

My Mom and Dad.

What kinds of activities do you typically do for family recreation?

-Hiking, playing outside, the kids have races. When you kids were little we played baseball, we did all kinds of things. We'd have races around the house.

In your opinion, what are the main benefits and downsides of family recreation?

-The downsides, I can't think of any. The benefits would be being Katniss, being outside, being together out in nature, feeling close to each other. Closer to God.

As a child, what was your favorite family activity? Why?

-My family used to get together on family night and play games. We'd have a lesson and then a game. I like doing stuff with my family. Everybody laughs and has fun. Like being with my sisters, nothing better. We laugh so hard.

What is your current favorite family recreation activity to do? Why?

-Definitely hiking with everybody, hiking up to Boulder Lake. It makes the little kids feel like they've accomplished something, done something hard. The reward is playing in the water, having s'mores, and then coming down.

If your childhood favorite has changed in adulthood, what do you think brought about that change?

-Because I married somebody who didn't like games particularly, but like hiking.

Please share a funny or meaningful experience that occurred on one of your family adventures.

-The little kids taking off their clothes and jumping in the lake. The little kids taking off their diapers and playing in the water. It was so cute and funny.

Is there an activity you wish your family did together when you were growing up? Why?

-I would have liked my family to hike more because Jill and I did a little bit. My Dad liked to do stuff like that. Biking maybe. We didn’t do anything physical, I did that by myself.

     To conclude, it's obvious that my parents love family time, especially those hiking experiences. I didn't always have this love of hiking like my parents. Growing up I hated hiking, but I've learned to love it the older I've gotten. There are some important aspects of hiking that should be incorporated in other family activities. These elements are communication time, challenge, and rewarding for children. I think if you have these aspects, the family activities will be quite successful.