Indoor family time ideas

Rainclouds, rainbows and raindrops are a matter of joy. But, with rains, rains and only rains, people are often forced to be confined indoors, which takes a toll on their outdoor activities.

Being forced to spend so much time indoors often upsets people, especially children, who then nag their parents. However, with well-planned ventures, you can keep up the mood at home and use this time to the advantage of your family.

The indoor activities are especially worthwhile if all the family members perceive it as a time to plan and enjoy. Here are a few indoor ideas you can try together with your folks:

Rekindle past memories

This could be a good time for walking down memory lane and reviving the memories of special events that are dear to the family such as academic achievements of a family member, marriage, birth of a child, new job, support of grandparents and the like.

You can bring out photo albums, watch old videos or screen slide shows. Every photograph has a story associated with it. Members can recount these stories…the photographs will come alive again.

Watching the years gone by frozen forever, bolsters a strong family bond. It’s a nice way for the children to get to know their parents and learn about the things that are special to the family.

They get to learn interesting titbits about their family’s past, which can be a matter of pride and delight for them. These are rare moments, which our busy lifestyles don’t allow us to enjoy otherwise.

Get to know each other’s likes/dislikes

A different way to get to know each member better is to make a list of his/her likes and dislikes. If you have a whiteboard at home, you could make an interesting chart of it rather than merely talking about it.

You could give each member a coloured marker with which s/he could write his/her likes/dislikes or top three wishes on the board. Another interesting way is to ask each person to write his or her likes/dislikes, dreams and aspirations on a chit of paper and you can mix all the chits together.

Then fish them out and read each chit aloud. After each chit is read, everyone can guess who may have written it.

The time together indoors gives us a wonderful opportunity to understand each other’s opinions and preferences, which we may have not paid attention to earlier.

Do the regular

Clichéd as they may be, some activities such as reading books, watching favourite movies, and listening to music together still help make productive use of time.

You could also play some games together such as your very own quiz show in which every member gets to be in the hot seat.

Scrabble is another favourite family pastime, the world over. It helps add to the vocabulary of not just children but of adults as well. You’d be surprised at the kind of words your child knows.

Other classic indoor activities include: cooking meals together, drinking piping hot beverages while watching the raindrops; painting on different surfaces like cloth or mugs; making gift articles and greeting cards with personal messages for each family member; organising your very own photo session with witty-weird expressions!

Monsoon confinement can be a good time to plan exercise schedules for children and adults, which may facilitate physical and mental health.

Discuss important issues

You could also use this time to discuss long-standing/important issues that need attention or resolve conflicts. Often, we disagree on things or keep some decisions on a backburner due to lack of time.

You can use this indoor time to resolve such issues, rebuild communication networks of the family, reform problem-solving and decision-making strategies, and reshape roles and responsibilities of the members.

Additionally, every family can be creative in its own way and design action plans that best suit the family needs. If you decide to do it together, you can transform the confinement into quality time for your family.