Getting Serious About Family Fun

Kids are into having fun and parents can learn a lot from their kids about how to have fun and what fun truly is. There are many benefits for kids of all ages who get to spend time with family doing things that help build connections and develop deeper bonds all in the energy of fun.

In this week's episode of Be You Parenting we talk about what is fun, what happened to having fun no matter where we are or what we are doing and how a parent's capacity to have fun may be affecting their child. 

It can be very helpful to reflect on our own parent/adult view of what it means to have fun. When did life become so serious? What beliefs were formed about what it means to grow up and stop applying fun to anything and everything? 

I am reminded of the movie, Life is Beautiful, in which a father and son are taken to a concentration camp. The father makes the whole experience an adventure of fun and optimism for his son, giving his son a different point of view about their situation. 

Consider how you may be responding to your child having fun. Do you ever insist that your kids quit kidding around, get serious? OR can you play along with your kids and join in the fun? How about when you aren’t in the mood, do you squash their fun mood? Is your unwillingness to have fun, affecting the kids? What if you can be serious and have fun at the same time? I show you how in this episode of Be You Parenting. I also share with you how to make any activity a fun activity.

Who said that life can't be fun? If you see the value in having more fun, enjoying all that you do, why not?  By choosing to enjoy life in all aspects, we teach our children that we are in control of the attitude we take with life. If we tend to be more serious, we tend to get more angry, disappointed, frustrated, and embarrassed. What happens to your stress level when you choose to enjoy life, and make your choices based on will I enjoy this or not? The choice is yours. 
 
One parent shared with me that she learned that her kids just know what to do to have fun, they don’t even have to think about it. 

They can have fun in so many ways. An easy way to learn about fun is to start by watching kids have fun. Go to any playground and watch kids play. They don’t require much- imagination, freedom to observe and explore, some will play alone, while others will enjoy interaction, see how they freely to express themselves- screaming, laughing, yelling, not holding anything in. When they have the freedom to choose what interests them, they initiate their own learning all in the name of having fun. 

And if you struggle with ideas for what you can do with kids just for fun, check out this article, 100 Ways to Have Fun with Your Kids for Free or Cheap. When we make the connection that we can't have fun because we don't have the money for it, we associate money with fun. And that just isn't true. Anyone can be and have fun, regardless of how much money they have. I will add that money is an energy that is attracted to those who enjoy life. 

A question that we can all start our day with is, "How much fun can I be and have today?"