Juggling a job, hobbies, social life, and family is no walk in the park and there is certainly no handbook out there outlining exactly how to do so. However, there are some handy tips to bear in mind if you wish to make the most of your time, allowing you to spend more quality hours during the day with your family. In this article, we will pinpoint a few beneficial techniques you can start implementing in your own daily life so that you can return home from work with more energy to emotionally connect with your family.
Put together a plan
How does one get things done in the office efficiently? Well, with a plan for starters. Developing a plan doesn’t have to be reserved for work, though, and you could start by creating a family plan to best utilize your time together in the evening. Using a whiteboard or chalkboard pinned to your kitchen wall, you can block out the day into manageable chunks that tie in with everyone in the households’ schedules. This way you can ensure that you have time for a break while your children are finishing up their homework and time to spend together when everyone is free before bed.
Get your children involved
Beyond having a plan that segments your family’s time after work, you can encourage your children to join you on the activities, or chores, that you do in the evening. One such example is cooking dinner for the family. Rather than preparing everything alone or even encouraging your children to prepare dinner once a week, why not make it a joint experience that will allow you and your family to come up with exciting recipes that you can all create. This is just one wonderful way to emotionally connect with your family while knocking off a chore in the process.
Walk your kids through your day
One of the most beneficial things you can do with your children is to work on your communication with one another. Rarely are kids exposed to the ins and outs of their folks’ workdays and bridging this gap may help you and your children connect on a much deeper level. After work, instead of retreating to the couch and flipping on the television, why not walk your kids through a day in your life at the office. Keep it short and sweet as not to bore them but open the floor to questions they may have about you, your day, or even your work. Who knows, maybe these conversations will ignite a career desire in your children that none of you were aware of. This may also teach them valuable lessons that you wish to pass on to them.
Work on your mentality
One of the biggest contributing factors to parents not connecting with their children after work is that they are unable to separate their work life from their home life. It would be extremely beneficial if you started implementing positive habits that allow you to unwind after work and switch your mindset to a family-focused one. Such habits could be a five minute meditation you could do in your car in the driveway before stepping through the front door or practicing yoga in the early mornings before getting started on breakfast. These simple techniques will give you space between work and family that will help you better adapt your mentality when you move from one of these environments to the other.
There you have it, a few techniques to help you make more time to emotionally connect with your family after a long day’s work.
