Self-Care Sunday: Building the Perfect Family Evening Routine

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Life can be very stressful at times, especially for parents. Perhaps you’ve had a tough day at work with an endless to-do list, your children are tired after a long day at school, or everyone is feeling a bit down. This is completely normal, yet you shouldn’t have to put up with it. We’ve put together the perfect evening routine to help the family unwind together. Start by building an evening routine as a family once a week. It will not only provide some much needed relaxation before bedtime and improve sleep, but it is also a chance to spend some quality time with your family!

Evening routines don’t have to be complex. As long as you are prioritizing self-care and building healthy habits for the body and mind, your family will see a difference in their quality of sleep and their productivity and energy levels tomorrow.

1. Unplug For The Evening

When you get home from work or the kids get back from school, start by collecting everyone’s phones and devices to fully unplug for the evening. Social media and the internet can be both a distraction and a source of stress for both yourself and your kids, so taking the evening off is a great way to start unwinding. You can also try to avoid watching TV in he evening as well. For some families, TV may be the best way to properly unwind and just relax, but creating new habits that don’t include TV will be beneficial for both your body and mind! Minimizing the amount of blue light your children are exposed to each night will give their eyes a break as well.

2. Go For A Nice Walk

It’s important to teach your children to move their bodies each day while they’re young. Get everyone changed out of their school uniforms and into something comfy and head out for an early evening walk while it’s still light outside! Walking can help to improve overall wellbeing and physical development, as well as help you to reconnect with nature. Allowing your children to explore the outdoors will also instill a sense of independence which is essential for every child.

A walk will also help burn off a bit of energy and provide a change of scenery for the little ones. Doing this at the beginning of the evening will help to improve the mood of the entire family to kickstart the rest of your relaxing evening. You should aim to do at least a couple of family walks a week, as it is fantastic for everyone’s mental and physical health. Even if you only get out for half an hour a few times a week, a walking routine will benefit everyone!

3. Cook a Nutritious Meal with Soothing Music

Now that you’re back from your walk, it’s time to start cooking a delicious and nutritious meal that will make everyone feel great. Pick a family favourite that is full of goodness. This might be a casserole, spaghetti bolognaise or curry. Whatever meal you choose, just make sure to sneak a few vegetables in there! As we know, nutrients are essential for our children, so make sure they are consuming at least five a day. Adults have very busy lives, so multivitamins are a good alternative to make sure that you are consuming the necessary nutrients each day.

Get the kids involved with cooking however you can. This might involve chopping the vegetables with child-friendly knives or doing some measuring. Rather than seeing cooking as a chore, try to consider it as a fun event in your evening routine. When you’re cooking, play some soothing music to add to the relaxed mood. Now, it would be great if we could all get our kids involved with cooking without any arguments, but for most of us that isn’t a reality! So, always try to give everyone their own job and share it around evenly throughout the week. Creating a chart to go on the fridge with everyone’s role is a good way to keep things under control and give your children responsibility.

Try to cook something that requires minimal washing up, so you can quickly clean up and carry on with your evening. Make sure to eat earlier in the evening as well, to avoid digestive issues right before it’s time to go to sleep.

4. Laugh Together

After having a meal together as a family, choose an activity that will allow you all to have fun together. For me, this would be a board games night. I let each of the children pick out their favourite board game and we will spend an hour or so playing and catching up as a family. Although we are around our children all the time, life can get in the way sometimes and it’s rare to have a chance to spend quality time together.

For other families, this might include building a fort, having a dance party or playing hide and seek. If you’re planning on doing more high energy activities, make sure they finish a couple of hours before bed to give your kids plenty of time to wind down and get the best sleep they can. Whatever you choose to do, spending time in your evening routine just being silly and laughing can completely transform everybody’s mood.

5. Read A Book As A Family

After spending time having fun together, complete your usual nighttime routine and then read a book together as a family. This will give you one more opportunity to spend time as a family but it will also help the kids (and you) to unwind fully before going to sleep.

Maybe you could have a quick chat about what everyone enjoyed about the evening, and ask if anyone has any ideas about what they might like to do next time. Reflecting on the evening will help make it even better tomorrow!

Final Thoughts

Family time is very precious, so making an effort at least once a week to enjoy time together as a family is important. On top of this, life can be stressful and busy at times, so building habits that allow you to just relax and forget about any concerns temporarily can be really important when it comes to the mental health of the whole family.

During these evenings, try to spend time talking about any worries and concerns your children might have. This will make them feel comfortable talking to you about their own anxieties, and will bring the family even closer. Enjoy your relaxing evening routine and you are likely to find that both you and your children will be much happier!

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Daisy Moss is a freelance writer at StudyClerk.com specializing in health and wellness, particularly surrounding families. She enjoys researching the best ways to support her meditative practices and is currently exploring the benefits of magnesium tablets on focus and productivity.

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