Work, school, activities, friends, and other obligations can at times pull family members apart rather than bring them together. You don’t necessarily have to change activities to find family time. Just be creative.
Time at Home is Asset 20 of Search Institute’s 40 Developmental Assets, the qualities, experiences, and relationships that help young people grow up healthy, caring, and responsible.
Here are the facts:
Research shows spending quality time together as a family helps young people strengthen skills such as leadership, good health, and success in school. About 64 percent of young people, ages 11–18, spend no more than two nights a week with friends “with nothing special to do,” according to Search Institute surveys. Protecting young people from risky behaviors and helping them develop positive behavior is easier when you spend time together as a family.
Tips for building this asset:
- Simply start spending time together: First, choose an activity the entire family enjoys. Then, commit to do the activity together one evening a week. Decide if you want to continue the activity or try something different. Ask yourselves: How often do we laugh together? Have fun together? Enjoy being with each other?
- In your home and family: Choose a day to make a meal or bake something together, with each family member preparing a part of it. Then eat together.
- In your neighborhood and community: Invite your child’s friend and his or her family over for an evening of family time—movies, games, popcorn and other treats.
Want to know more about the 40 Developmental Assets and ideas for helping young people build them? Visit
https://searchinstitute.org/resources-hub/developmental-assets-framework.