4 Activities To Do This Summer To Bring You And Your Family Together |
The summer is fast approaching us, and now that the kids will be off school and it's time to start thinking about holidays and BBQs and the beach, you may be stuck for ideas on how to strengthen the bonds of the family whilst everybody is off trying to enjoy the sun.
4 Activities To Do This Summer To Bring You And Your Family Together
Summer Retreats
Christian family retreats are a great way of spending time with your family in the outdoors closer to nature whilst having loads of summer fun. The time you spend together, laughing, playing, praying, and having fun will secure memories that you and your family will remember for a lifetime. Many of these camps also include activities focusing on prayer and worship and study, strengthening your faith, and those all-important familial bonds.
No Phone Time
Phones are great, we use them every day, and they help us in our daily lives. But it is easy for us to get sucked into our cellular devices and distract us from the beauty of the world around us and from the people important to us. This is doubly true for our children who have been raised basically in a world consumed with technology and social media.
Obviously, we're not suggesting prohibiting the use of technology; our children's digital lives are important and something that brings them joy. But maybe this summer, while they have all this time off school, set aside an hour, maybe two a day with your family and have a zero phone policy. This includes you and your spouse! Use this time to really explore what and how your family is thinking and feeling, go outdoors, sit inside, talk to one another and enjoy each other's company. They may be resistant to it at first, but it will benefit you and your family in the long run.
Cooking Together
Cooking can be a very intimate activity. When you cook with, and for others, you are working together to ensure that you have created something wonderful and delicious. It's fun and can spawn so many joyful and lasting memories, especially when things go wrong! Good food can also stir such a feeling of grace and bring us closer not only to each other but to our faith, breaking bread as they do in the Bible.
This is why people get so excited for Christmas dinners and summer barbeques, and they are how we bond. Invite people over and let them try your tasty treats. It's not exactly feeding the 5000, but 50 of your closest friends and family will do. This summer, why not try rustling up some crab stuffed shrimp, an easy and delicious meal fun for all the family.
Lemonade Stand
The Bible teaches us about the importance of sharing and giving. There is no better way to give this summer than setting up a lemonade stand at the end of your driveway. And what's perfect is that your entire family can get involved! Everything from making your perfect family recipe with your kids, everyone banding together to make a large batch, and someone to hand them to thirsty passerby baking in the summer sun. It will teach your children the act of goodwill and neighborliness important to what strengthens our faith and personal betterment. And it doesn't necessarily need to be lemonade, whatever you and your family have to hand or come to mind, so long as you're spending time together and giving back to the community.
Hopefully, this list has given you some inspiration for activities for you and your family to do this summer; hopefully, they are able to bring you not only closer to each other but your combined faith. As we said, community strengthens our bond to our faith. Community builds us back up when we feel weak, low, and downtrodden. These are only a few ideas, and there are plenty of more things for you and your family to do this summer; the possibilities are endless!