Are your children having enough fun with you?

Hands up if your heart sinks every time another survey or research paper is published about parenting and the work-life balance.  And here's another one!

A recent survey of children showed that they really wanted more fun with their parents, more time playing games and – amazingly - less TV and computer games.

So how can we include more fun and games into busy days which may already include homework, after-school clubs, music classes and so on?

Here are a few ideas to incorporate more fun time into everyday activities:

• Dress for dinner – once a week/month get the kids (and you) to dress up for dinner. Perhaps dressing in smart clothes or dressing up as a favourite character. Or you could just all wear hats and keep in character during the meal.
• Little chefs – include the kids in preparing the meals. It may be easier and quicker to do it on your own but this time is great for chatting and talking about the day. It may also help picky eaters to increase the range of food they eat.
• Menu planning – once a week set time aside to plan meals for the week ahead. Children can join in drawing pictures or cutting out pictures to stick on the menu. Older children may like to design the menu on the computer.
• Supermarket shopping – give each child a list of items to find for the trolley. Younger children who can’t read can be given pictures. For older children who can be allowed to go to another aisle on their own you could time how long it takes.
• Bath-time – older kids will keep you on the other side of a firmly closed door but you could introduce an element of competition with timers, who can leave the room the cleanest and tidiest.
• Games – get out the cards or board games you have and play together. You could have a “league table” of winners.
• DVDs – if your family has been watching one film over and over again, have a viewing when you pause now and again and see who knows the next line a character speaks.
• Story-telling – start a storyline and each take turns to add to it for say two minutes.

If you have any great ideas for making family time more fun, send them to us by clicking this link and we'll publish the best.