Bonding activities with your kids before putting them to bed

We have a routine that we usually stick with. 

We normally reach home about 7.45pm at night on a weekday - on average. That, in truth, already limits the amount of time you get to spend with your kids since you still have to prepare dinner, eat, pray and what not before they have to go to bed.

Sometimes, it feels like most of the time that you do get to spend with them is just you taking care of them. Getting them to eat, getting them to shower, getting them to clean up their toys. 

What can we do then, to actually spend some time with our kids on a normal day-to-day basis and bond with them? We cant just parent them all the time. Spending some time with them helps with their development too.

So here's my take. This is what we normally do or hope to do with our little family:

1. When we eat, we eat together. Eating as a family build and strengthen your family bond. I kid you not. Living proof of those who do and do not eat together exists. I see them with my own eyes.

2. When they play, spend perhaps just 10-15 minutes and play with them. If you cant, at least ask your spouse to do so while you do the chores. The roles can be reversed on a different day.

3. The third one may be a controversial one to some.

It is a routine for us that my son gets to watch his cartoon after dinner. So we let him watch about 40 minutes worth of cartoons. He gets to choose from only a few types of cartoons that we allow i.e. only those that are age-appropriate for him.

Most of the time my husband would sit with him and watch the cartoon together. How we bond through this is by asking him to tell us about the story after that. What happened? Why he did that? Is it good or bad? What did you like about the episode? So on and so forth. From the questions, we talked, we get to understand what he actually understands, we get to know our son bit by bit too.

4. I'd love to have this activity before bed. But it is still work in progress.

I imagined that when the kids are in bed, we would be there to read them a bedtime story. Or better yet, create a whole new story together! Its fun and it helps your kids imagination grow too. That's what my father usually do for me and my sisters. I think thats why all four of us have wild imagination. 

5. Last but not least, we recite doa to go to sleep, together. At the end of the day, we should give thanks to God for the good that happened and learn from the bad.

Buuuuuutttttt.....there are days when this happened instead:

In my defense, we're only humans! Haha. 

Honestly though, we try our best to do spend time with our kids as much as possible.

The above list are the ones that we have made for ourselves. I'd love to hear your suggestions if you have any to share. Let me know at the comments below!