What Does Family Fun Really Mean?

The word fun usually brings to mind activities that have to do with pleasure and enjoyment. While this is not wrong in itself, it is very important to understand that when it comes to families having fun, it has a deeper meaning. This is because it goes beyond just going out with your spouse or children. 

Family fun should be of a deeper nature with the bottom line being the enjoyment of everyone regardless of time and place. Family members need to see fun beyond just a physical activity that occurs from time to time but rather various activities that should improve the family bonding process every time.

Research shows that a lot of families have a disconnect when fun is missing in their relationship. This has led me to come up with an acronym for the word FUN to address this.

F-FRIENDSHIP

U- UNDERSTANDING

N-NURTURING

So many times I visit eateries, family entertainment centers, amusement parks etc and what I usually observe are the children playing while the parents just watch them or are even doing other things. Sometimes you even find the parents occupied with their smart phones which is becoming the bane of this generation. 

What this means is the activity is actually an obligation the parents do to please the child or to fulfill all righteousness in the sense that they spent time with their child(ren). However, was it really quality time? Was there a connection? Was there a bonding process going on? NO! For families to have fun there must be an exchange that comes about through interaction and that leads to connection.

Now to our acronym for FUN, Friendship helps you make a lifetime commitment with your child such that you keep loving and supporting them even when they become adults. 

Friendship also helps you observe your children such that you know their strengthens and weaknesses and can help them assess and work around it. 

In other words, friendship with your child helps you know them better. You get to study their personality and know how to motivate and encourage them through life and not in a condescending manner.

Lets move to Understanding, When you understand your child, it is easier to work through any difficulties together and the easiest way to understand them is by spending time with them.

It has been said so many times that the way children measure the love of their parents is actually by the time they spend with them. So rather than just buying them material things or providing the basic necessities of food, clothing and shelter, spending time together can help improve your relationship and make it more fun.

In understanding your child better, it helps you know their likes and dislikes, what interests them and also what excites them contrary to what you might have assumed in times past.

It is also very important to listen to them. Become an active listener to your child as communication also helps in understanding someone. Be an active listener such that you maintain eye contact with them when they are speaking so you can observe their body language as well as the words they are saying. Listen to your child with your undivided attention and be sure to ask questions to clarify so there are no wrong assumptions.

Finally, the Nurturing part; To nurture means to care for and protect someone and this is another major area in family fun as your child will benefit both physiologically and emotionally as well. 

It is important to note that nurturing should not only be about the children alone but the family as a whole including mummy and daddy. 

Most times, children tend to become the center of attention of most families and the family tends to structure itself around the needs of the child which can sometimes lead to a gap in communication between mother and father as all they talk about is only the child(ren).

Therefore, it is important to remember that nurturing is for the whole family and ensure that there is smooth communication flow between spouses as man and wife and then their role as mother and father to their children. 


This means as you nurture your relationship with your child by spending time with them, you also nurture your relationship as a couple and spend time together to improve intimacy, communication and connection.

So when you think of family fun, remember that is is a combination of different things like friendship, understanding and nurturing that goes into activities that becomes the glue that bonds your family together.



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