Home, Sweet Home: Why Staycations Are Great For Family Bonding
If your family is anything like mine, you probably spend much of the year saving up for that one, big vacation trip with the kids. Giving the kids amazing experiences and memories that’ll last a lifetime is worth saving and working hard for. But when it comes to strengthening family bonds, there’s nothing like an old-fashioned staycation. Research shows that the more familiar your vacation surroundings are, the happier your kids will be. According to Dr. Karen Melton, the author of a recent study on the topic, “the best predictor of happiness for families is spending quality time together in familiar activities inside the home.”
Sounds strange? Not really. If you think about it for a moment, it begins to make sense. Dr. Melton and her colleagues discovered that when families travel to new and unfamiliar places, they spend a great deal of time and energy organizing themselves and processing all that’s happening. But when they vacation closer to home - and especially in their home – they have the time and energy to relax and focus on each other.
During a vacation trip away from home, there are so many choices to make every day: what time to get up in the morning, what sites to see, what restaurants to eat at. The list goes on and on. At home, simply doing fun stuff together, we can just enjoy each other’s company.
So, what are some great staycation activities? Here are three of my family’s favorites:
Playing Board Games
No matter how addicted they are to their online games, your kids can get into hanging out together as a family if you play a good board game. Our family favorites are Charade and Taboo: we laugh our heads off with the funny gestures and faces we make trying to give clues.
Listening To Music
Most people walk around all day, with their headphones on, streaming their own music. It’s good to take off those earbuds and enjoy music with the rest of the family. It’s fun to gather around a computer and take turns picking your favorite songs on YouTube. Your kids get to hear the oldies from your youth, and you get to hear the top songs of the moment that they like. Your kids’ and your own musical tastes may change in ways you didn’t think possible.
Cooking Meals
Few things bring a family together like cooking a meal. It’s active, fun, everyone can participate, and in the end you get to enjoy the fruits of your labor. To add excitement, make the meal prep a fun challenge. Create rules like you can only cook with what you already have in the kitchen. If your family is big enough, divide into two teams with each responsible for different parts of the meal. One team makes the main course, and the other makes the salad and dessert. Take turns in the kitchen, and don’t tell the other team what you’ve been cooking. Sitting down to eat will be a fun and surprising mystery.
Story by
Tanni Haas, Ph.D.