In our day-to-day life, we spend more time with our colleagues at work than with our children and family. This is why we must find time for each other during the week, to fully enjoy these moments. 

In this article, there are 5 TIPS to help you find a balance between work and home life. These tips and routines can be used to improve relationships between family members and improve the wellbeing of everyone, both young and old. 

1- Organise meals together:

Eating together might seem simple, but it’s a great reason to share a moment with family, to listen to each other, discuss something or even debate.

Dinners not only nourish hungry tummies but also family bonds. (Haha)

A little advice: It is recommended to eat dinner between 7pm and 8pm. Eating too close to bedtime makes it harder to fall asleep. Also, avoid heavy meals, eating white meat or fish instead. 

2- Try meditation as a family:

Practising meditation as a family is a great activity for strengthening relationships and easing tensions. It is also a good time to share a moment without interruptions, such as phones, radio, TV, etc.

Meditation has many benefits, including reducing stress and improving the quality of sleep and concentration.

Sitting cross-legged, focus on your breathing and your body whilst enjoying the present moment with yourself, your children, your spouse and/or friends. 

•     S.T.O.P. exercise:

S = Stop what you’re doing or thinking.

T = Take a breath, connecting with your body.

O = Observe your breathing, feelings and emotions.

P = Participate in sharing your emotions with others.

•     Teach children to focus on their breathing

Invite your children to take a break from their activities. Whilst sitting down, ask them to feel the temperature difference between the air that they breathe in and the air that they breathe out.

Then, encourage them to feel their breath in their body by asking them to put a hand on their tummy and feel as it expands and deflates with air. They will feel their breath as it moves in their ribcage and throat. 

After the session is finished, ask them how they are feeling. Finally, suggest that they perform this technique if needed at any point during their day. 

3- Play with your children:

Children love games, even more so when it is with their parents. Here is a game which will help maintain strong family bonds.  

• The card game of emotions (created by psychologist Jeanne Siaud-Facchin):

This game allows you to learn to feel and communicate your emotional feelings. 

The players take turns to draw a card at random and answer the prompt that they have in their hands. 

The cards address both positive and negative experiences and therefore give children the opportunity to verbalise what they have experienced.

Before beginning, be sure to warn the players about the importance of understanding and kindness.

Cut up 7 small pieces of paper, write on them, shuffle them, then take it in turns to draw a card:

•     Say what scares me the most
•     Say which present I have enjoyed the most
•     Tell my funniest memory  
•     Describe my biggest dream
•     Say what makes me the angriest 
•     Say what makes me the saddest 
•     Tell the person to my right their most important quality

Do at least 4 rounds of the table. 

4- Share the love of reading with your children:

It is important to give children a taste for reading. Reading brings great curiosity, as well as a wider general culture. Through reading, both children and adults can develop their knowledge of many subjects. As a family, reading provokes many discussions in various areas. We can conclude that sharing knowledge strengthens connections.

5- Give and receive hugs:

• Good for self-confidence

Hugs improve both self-confidence and self-esteem. Babies are instantly soothed when their parents hug them gently. They are reassured by the love that we have for them. 

Now, these distant memories are still present in adults. In fact, cuddles have a calming effect for us too, producing an immediate feeling of wellbeing. 

• Reduces stress

It has been demonstrated by scientists that giving and receiving hugs lowers stress hormones in order to promote the release of feel-good hormones in the body (endorphins). 

• Improves sleep

Cuddling before bed predisposes you to a better state of mind and leads to more peaceful sleep.

Pssst : 

It is also important for your well-being to spend time with your partner. So, for a moment of relaxation together, one on one, call Be My Nounou to look after your children. We will provide you with quality baby-sitters that meet your expectations. 

Decompression for you and fun for your children! With Be my nounou, everyone is happy ! (haha)