Between football practice, dance and piano lessons, work, school and homework, it is nearly impossible for today’s families to have a sit-down dinner each night, let alone find time to enjoy family-focused experiences together. But with child obesity at an all time high and because it helps builds stronger families, it is important for parents to make an extra effort to plan active family activities on a regular basis.

Finding children and family activity ideas that everyone in the family enjoys is not an easy task for parents. Conflicting desires among parents and children means it may be hard to please everyone with one single activity. Here are some tips that could make planning these family activities an easier process for everyone involved.

Allow and encourage creativity

The first thing to do when planning family activities is to have everyone thinking creatively. Falling into a routine can make family fun time become stale and expected. Encouraging children to be creative when thinking of ideas will help them learn a sense of experimentation and discovery, which are important traits to have in life. Also, this creativity will help keep the family activities fresh. Making the decision-making process more of a team effort and encouraging creativity within your family means that events are more likely to be enjoyable for everyone.

Make time

You must also be intentional about carving out time in your family schedule for quality together time. Having family activities on a consistent basis is important and if there isn’t a scheduled time to do fun things, family activities could be sporadic. Placing a premium on time spent together as a family means that these hangout times will be more precious to the family. Before long, everyone in the family will see it as an invaluable time to bond.

Get input from everyone

If some of the members of your family feel like they don’t get to do things they enjoy enough, start a system that distributes the responsibility to make the final decision evenly among the family. This is a great way to keep everyone satisfied and engaged. Additionally, giving children a sense of freedom to make their own decision will help them mature into adults who are good at making decisions.

It can definitely feel like it is difficult to make solid time for family activities, but actually making it a priority will lead to better family relationships. Encouraging creativity and taking input from everyone in the family will make it more likely that everyone involved will be happy.

Simply Greater is a publication focused on families and life-long learning. Learn more about family fun activities at Simply Greater.