How to Encourage Fun Off-Screen for Your Family

How to encourage fun off-screen for your family?

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

Are you tired of seeing your family members glued to the screens of your home’s TV, smartphones, laptops, and tablets? Do you not know how to get your family members away from those devices or to have fun without those devices nearby?

No matter how serious this issue is for you, you have several options that can help ensure your family still has fun off-screen. If you are looking for tips to help with your family’s needs, consider these five ways to make sure your concerns are addressed.

Get your family’s feedback

Have you addressed your concerns with your family? And when you did this, what did they have to say? Have you all worked on what was discussed? If you have not done this, you might be missing out on reasons for their insistence to be glued to media devices. You won’t know until you ask.

If you have brought this up and unsuccessfully set parameters, you might need professional assistance with this. You should not be embarrassed. Be glad there are people that can help you. Because if ignored for too long, some related issues could be detrimental for your family. If you need help with how to break a child’s video game addiction, for example, professional help most definitely could be warranted.

Seek professional help

You might think that professional help would not be something that could help address and assist you and your problem. It can be very beneficial for your family, though, and this is especially important for those of you with children.

As children mature they need to have access to everything that helps them mature physically, mentally, and emotionally. If you do not nip their addictions to technology, you run the risk of your child missing out on important habits they need to have learned in life. Do not take this risk anymore and do not ever let your children dictate what happens at home.

Lead by example

Other than putting your foot down, there are other ways that you can lead by example. The first you can do is admit you have a problem if you do have one. Then, you start by trying to showcase how fun life can still be without streaming services, texts, and social media.

You also lead by making sure that you are making efforts to mix things up in the life of your family. You should look for ways everyone can have fun without their media devices in hand or nearby. And then, you should start planning those ideas and put them into motion.

Schedule heading out

Unless there is an underlying medical issue that prevents it, everyone in your family needs to get out of the house. Your family will get needed outdoor exposure to nature and to other people, too.

Ideas for you to consider are attending concerts, trips to community festivals, visits to open-air markets, visiting relatives and friends, and camping. When was the last time you and your family went to church, the movies, a park, or the supermarket together?

Organize activities at home

You can find activities to do at home that don’t revolve around the TV or other electronic devices. Consider yard work, washing your vehicles, a BBQ or roasting marshmallows in your back yard. You could also plant flowers or wash your cars.

If you do not have a yard, you still have options. Encourage your children to help you clean out their rooms and your home. Allow them to sell unwanted items and use the cash for an upgrade on a tech purchase. You will be able to show them how time away from their devices grants even more tech fun. Puzzles, making art, and cooking together are other great ideas for you to think about, too

You must take steps now to ensure your family is not having too much screen time. If you don’t stay on top of this issue, you can run into more problems. In order for you to do this, you can use one or more of the tips mentioned above. Each is a proven way that you can try to make sure this happens.