Family leisure schedule or a moment just for yourself? How not to forget to rest in a frenzy of everyday duties?

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Family leisure schedule or a moment just for yourself? How not to forget to rest in a frenzy of everyday duties?

Days fly by and we often think about rest only when we run out of steam. But you need to recharge somehow. Relaxation options are limited now, but you can organise something even at home and still put it in the calendar. We simply need rest!

Plan some conscious leisure time to spend together

Together with your child, come up with as many ways to spend relaxing time together as possible. In the current situation, it requires additional creativity, but it is worth brainstorming. Some of the craziest ideas can turn into feasible actions. Remember to consider the needs and suggestions of all family members. Write down your ideas and put them in a visible place. Of course, you will not be able to do all the points on the list immediately. Choose one thing a day or decide that one day the parent is the one to choose the activity and the other day, the child. Take turns. The important thing is that the activity is pleasant for everyone.

Recharge your batteries

Being together all the time can make you dream of a moment of seclusion. Everyone needs a moment to breath and relax. Think about what really strengthens you instead of things that only isolate you from other household members. Is it a dozen or so minutes of physical exercise? Hot bath? Good book? Listening to music with undivided attention? Or maybe planting flowers? Make a list of your “rechargers” and suggest other household members do the same. Together, decide how you can support each other and take turns helping each other find time just for yourself. Remember that your energy level translates directly into the energy at home and your relationships with eachother. Let recharging your batteries become an important part of the weekly schedule.

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Family leisure schedule or a moment just for yourself? How not to forget to rest in a frenzy of everyday duties?

Treat Draw

Taking care of one another strengthens your bond and helps you through difficult times. One way to talk about what each of you needs to recharge is the ‘treat draw’ game.

Draw cards with your names. That day, you need to do something to indulge the person drawn. It’s worth asking the person whom we randomly picked what will please them. This is a good start for a conversation about what the individual needs of each household member are. Sometimes we don’t have the faintest idea how little it takes to please someone. You can keep drawing your names for a week. At the end, talk about how you felt making the other person happy and how you felt when someone did something for you.

All source materials are prepared by the team of Kulczyk Foundation’s Education Department in cooperation with teachers and experts – pedagogists, psychologists and cultural experts – and verified by an experienced family therapist Kamila Becker. Kinga Kuszak, PhD, Professor of Adam Mickiewicz University, Faculty of Educational Studies, provides content-related supervision over Kulczyk Foundation’s educational materials. All materials are covered by the content patronage of the Faculty of Educational Studies of Adam Mickiewicz University.

The article was published on 03.04.2020 on the website of Instytut Dobrego Życia (Good Life Institute)

Authors: Dorota Szkodzińska (Kulczyk Foundation) and Anna Woźniak (Instytut Dobrego Życia)