Playing With Your Kids Fosters Character Traits and Builds Family Bonds

The Fall 2014 edition of BYU Magazine features an article about families that play together. (You can read the full article HERE.) My 2 favorite professors at BYU (Dr. Laura Padilla-Walker and Dr. Larry Nelson) are featured in this article, and discuss how participating in meaningful and challenging recreation helps kids build character traits such as persistence, confidence and resilience. Recreational activities such as hiking, rafting, and camping teach kids that they can continue towards a goal, not to give up, and to make decisions for themselves (as well as the consequences of those decisions). Of course, the activities alone do not foster these traits -- parental guidance and encouragement are what really seal the deal. 

Not only does participating in family activities help build the above mentioned traits (among others), it also creates an environment for the family to strengthen familial bonds. The time spent together is priceless, as are the experiences and memories you create.

Kyle and I have talked about this, and also believe that one of the keys to helping make sure that activities such as these are positive and strengthening for families is by starting them young. Abe is only 8 months old, but has already participated in camping trips and hikes. We want our kids to expect and look forward to these events, and not all of a sudden throw them into a week long camping trip without any previous experience. It's just simply something that we do together as a family. As a bonus -- most outdoor recreational activities force you to "unplug" from your electronics and really pay attention to your family and the beautiful world we live in.

Of course, you do not need to go camping, rafting, etc in order to foster character traits and build those family bonds. Something as simple as playing a board game together, doing a puzzle together, or participating in any other activity works, too. The main idea is to have frequent family interactions, to normalize time spent together as a family, and for parents to create experiences and activities that will foster the building of character traits and strengthen family bonds. Spending time together needs to be a priority, and expected. By establishing family "play time" you are helping to create a stable and loving household and family, which will then positively spill over into all other aspects of your life and the people you interact with -- and that's what this world needs -- priority placed on the family and positivity.