5 Ways to Make Family Life More Fun

As a parent, your life can sometimes feel like you’re stuck on a hamster wheel of doing chores, worrying about childcare issues, and figuring out how you’re going to get everything on your to-do list done. That’s before you even begin to think about going to work and paying the bills. With so much to do, all of the time, it’s no wonder that so many parents get worn down by the relentless pressure of family life.  

There’s no doubt that family life will always be busy. Unfortunately, there will always be jobs that need to be done and an ever-growing to-do list to tackle. However, there are also so many ways to make family life feel lighter and a lot more fun. Changing your perspective can help with this. When you’re in the thick of parenting it can be hard to see things from a different perspective. But recognising that parenting can be hard, and doing your best to focus on the aspects of being a mum or dad that you can control can make a huge difference to how you feel. Looking for the joy amongst the constant chaos is an excellent place to start. This may sound much easier said than done, but it really is possible. With this in mind, here are some easy and inexpensive ideas to make family life a lot more fun for both you and the kids.

Get Outside

Getting outside into the fresh air is one of the simplest and fastest ways to make family life more fun for both kids and adults. Everyone has been in a situation where the kids are climbing the walls at home (sometimes literally!) and you can feel the tension rising up inside of you as you try to get on with cooking, cleaning, working, and all the other tasks that demand your time and attention. In this situation, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed, especially if you’re trying to tackle a million and one jobs at the same time. Sometimes, a change of scenery is the very best way to escape the chaos and reduce your stress levels.

Heading outside, even if its just into the back garden, if you have one, or to the local park, can instantly make a difference. The kids can then run off some steam, and if you want a serious dopamine hit, you can join them. Playing games outside and having fun in the fresh air is an excellent way to clear your head and lift your mood.

Research proves again and again that being outside and in nature can have a powerful impact on well-being and is a really effective way to boost your mood. So, putting this theory to the test with a trip into the fresh air with the kids is always an excellent idea, especially when the house is feeling chaotic.

Play More Games

Playing outside is always lots of fun, but it’s not always possible to get outdoors. Playing games is a great way to pass the time when indoors, and is guaranteed to bring some extra fun into your day while also keeping the kids occupied.

If you’re feeling creative, you could make up games to play with the kids, such as scavenger hunts or ‘would you rather’ games. But if you’re looking for an easy way to pass a couple of fun hours together, a board game is a classic choice. When you’re feeling stressed and caught up in the usual worries that are part and parcel of being an adult, it’s easy to say no when the kids ask you to play. But saying yes to playing more games with the kids can provide some much-needed escapism and the kids will absolutely love you joining in with them.

Board games are great, but if you don’t have time to spend hours playing, or your kids aren’t interested in playing board games with you, playing online games such as hearts is a great choice. Supervising and joining in while they play online card games like hearts will certainly be more appealing if you have older children or teenagers. Online games are also a great choice if you have ten minutes to yourself and are looking for a distraction from the stress of daily life while enjoying a relaxing and well-deserved cuppa.

When there are endless chores to do and you’re feeling tired, it can be hard to find time to play games with the kids. However, even spending an hour playing games together is a great way to enjoy some relaxed quality time in each other’s company, and provides the perfect bonding experience. 

Make Chores an Opportunity for Family Fun

Housework, laundry, and all those other daily chores can soon mount up when family life gets busy. This can be a frustrating situation to be in, especially when you’re short on time and unable to catch up with everything you need to do. However, there’s no reason why you need to be the one to tackle all these jobs alone.

Getting the kids involved in helping out with the chores is an excellent way to take some of the pressure off of yourself. Having the kids help with age-appropriate chores is a great way to help them develop a sense of responsibility and to show them the importance of everyone working together and contributing to family life. But forcing the kids to do chores means that everyone is miserable when they’re carrying out their jobs. You may feel fed up with having to do everything yourself and constantly asking the kids to help out. However, making chores fun is a great way for you and your partner to get the kids involved in helping out, and will make those essential jobs a lot more fun for all of you.

To bring more fun to your household tasks you could try a few different ideas. Firstly, you could get everyone tidying up by putting on a song that you all love and encouraging the kids to tidy as much as they can before the song ends. Or play their favourite song while sorting out the clean laundry and asking the kids to match up all the socks into pairs in the time it takes for the song to play.

No one enjoys doing chores, but you can make them much more bearable and get them completed a lot faster by getting the whole family involved and making these everyday tasks a lot more fun.

Cook Together As a Family

Cooking is obviously an essential life skill, and one that your kids will need to learn to do at some point before they leave home. But right now, why not make cooking together a fun regular activity? 

Trying to think of meals to eat every single day of the week can be a real challenge for most parents, and becomes yet another addition to your mental load. Getting the kids involved and cooking together is the perfect way to bring more fun into the kitchen. It also means the kids are much more likely to eat their dinner, as they’ll be desperate to sample meals and snacks that they’ve helped to create. 

If you’re tired of battling with the kids to eat healthier snacks and meals, getting them to help make them is often an ideal solution. Letting the kids help you to create snacks such as fruit kebabs and vegetable crips is a great way to beat the battle of avoiding junk food. While mealtimes will also be a lot more relaxed if the kids have been involved in choosing and preparing their meal.

Let Your Imaginations Run Wild

As an adult, life can be all about practicalities, to-do lists, and work. When you’re constantly focused on chores and jobs, it means you lose sight of the more playful parts of your personality, and this includes your imagination. 

Letting your imagination loose and allowing it to run wild is something kids do all the time. This is what brings the carefree silliness to childhood, and is often left behind in adulthood. Making time to be silly and let your imagination run wild can be a perfect antidote to being endlessly busy and bogged down with the stresses of being an adult. 

Your kids will love to see your imagination run wild with fun and silly games and activities. Building dens with the kids, making up silly stories, inventing your own games, and drawing and creating with the kids are all perfect ways to let your imagination loose and bring some more fun into even the most mundane aspects of family life.

As you can see, there are many ways you can inject moments of fun into family life. Bringing added fun to routine activities and making time for play are powerful ways to break up the relentless pace of adulting and reduce feelings of stress. The best part is that by making family life more fun, you’re creating a happier environment for both you and your children.