55+ Activities to Strengthen the Parent Child Relationship

Welcome to Mom Motivation Mondays where weekly contributing writers share their motherhood experiences to encourage you to find the joy in being a mom.

{This week: Post by Jenn Gigowski}

“Mama, this is great. Just you and me. Nobody else. I like it.”

Jace, my newly turned six-year-old, looked at me over his ketchup-covered plate. He was wearing his Steak-n-Shake hat and sporting a bit of ketchup on his face. We were out for his birthday dinner. Just the two of us, since we couldn’t afford to take the whole family out. We’d been having a nice discussion over coloring and sticker-playing and stopped talking for a bit to eat our meals. It had been a few minutes of yummy silence between us when he surprised me with that gem. It was precious, and I’m so thankful for how it blessed our parent child relationship.

Do you ever just spend one-on-one time with your children? If you have more than one child, it’s often difficult to get away with just one. My husband and I each try to schedule one-on-one time with each child whenever possible. For us, it usually involves going out of the house for free or cheap, but staying home and hanging out, just two of you, is great for fostering the parent child relationship too. I am sharing a BIG list with you to get the ideas flowing-over 55 activities for kids to do with you to strengthen your parent child relationship.

One of the best things about spending time with your child doing things he enjoys is being able to have open dialogue about everything. When it’s just the pair of you, all your attention is on your child and all of his focus is on you. These are precious moments to get to know the personality and ideas and dreams and opinions inside your little one. It’s also time for him to see how much you care about him, and to notice that you’re actually someone worthy of listening to.

My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother: For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.

{Proverbs 1:8-9}

Activities that Strengthen the Parent Child Relationship

(Note: Most of these will work for any combo – Mother-son, Mother-daughter, Father-son, Father-daughter, but some of them are more obviously slanted one way or the other. You know your child and what he or she will like best.)

Quick tip: Most of these would even be good for a Hubby-Wife date night, and would also work as a whole family fun date!

Go to a dance – dress up fancy, pick up like going on a date

Go to a worship service

Volunteer at

a mission
Habitat for Humanity
soup kitchen

Go out to Eat

a place where kids eat free
a picnic
an ice cream shop
a fine dining meal – dress up fancy, pick up like going on a date

Go to the Store

to do regular grocery shopping or errands
to go window shopping
to pick out something special
to a used bookstore or a thrift store

Have fun together

batting cages
miniature golf
Chess, Checkers, Monopoly, Battleship, Pictionary, Charades, Mad-libs
Truth or Dare
Hide & Seek (admittedly, not as much talking time here!)
bowling
pool
tennis
ping-pong
skee-ball
air hockey
foosball
frisbee
go-karts
zip-line
arcade games

Make a meal together

pizza
taco night
his/her favorite meal
themed meal – 50s diner, authentic French, Italian, Polish or other cuisine

Wash the car together

Go to a bounce house

Go to a farmer’s market

Go to the local YMCA and find something to do together

Ride bikes

Go to a circus, carnival, fair or festival

Discus and write down prayer requests

Go geocaching

Go rock climbing

Watch the sunrise

Watch the sunset

Look at stars

Find constellations

Camp out in the back yard (or camp-in if the weather is bad)

Go backpacking

Read the Bible and discuss it

Go roller skating, roller blading, ice skating or skiing

Visit an art gallery, museum, zoo, aquarium or planetarium

Go to the apple orchard

Wash the dog

Rake the leaves

Design and build LEGO creations

Play dress-up

Go out as twins with matching outfits, hairdos and accessories

Go boating, canoeing, kayaking or tubing

Start a new hobby

knitting
crocheting
sewing
models
jewelry-making
painting

Visit a farm

Go fishing

Go horseback riding

Go on a scavenger hunt

Go to a pottery painting place

Go on a walk or a jog

Have a race

Fly a kite

Build a sand castle or snow fort

Go swimming

Go to the playground

Start an art project

Go to a family-friendly Karaoke place

Work on a crossword puzzle

Go hiking

Go to an entertaining event

concert
truck rally
ball-game
musical
play
family-friendly comedy club

Read a book – take turns reading chapters aloud

Write a story

Write a song

Work on a puzzle

Take a class together

dance lessons
music lessons
art lessons
foreign language lessons

Need some ideas for one-on-one time with your child? We have 55+ ideas shared to help strengthen your parent child relationship. These are inexpensive activities for kids to do with parents.

I hope these ideas can spark an interest in you and that you and your child will have a great time getting to know each other better. Make it a regular event and try new things!

Dear Lord,

Thank you so much for the gift that my children are to me. You have blessed me so much with them, and I treasure each of them so much. You are a great, good God. Help us to not take for granted these precious children who will only be little for a short time. Just 18 summers are given to us at the beginning of their lives. That’s not long. Please help us to make the most of our time with them while they are in our homes, so that when they are grown, they will still want to have a relationship with us.

In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

God bless,

Jenn

Jenn Gigowski is a Christian wife to an amazing man and a stay-at-homeschooling mom to four special & incredible boys (11.5, 10, 8, 6). Busy Being Blessed, by both Jenn and her husband Jerry, is to show families of the grace of God in everyday lives. She loves writing authentic posts so that others can know that perfection isn’t reality! Posts vary from general Christian living, parenting special needs children, gluten free living, homeschooling, and more! Follow them on Facebook, Pinterest & Twitter. Jenn also loves making digital creations and giving them to newsletter subscribers! 🙂