Summer mealtimes are nourishment to blended family life

Blended family time together takes on a new look during school vacation. When your step family seems to be all over town during the summer months, make time for quality time together. Even with teenagers in your step family, insist on set times at home with the entire blended family.

family meals nourish your blended family

Family meals nourish your blended family

Eating every meal together is a lofty goal in this day and age of lessons, meetings, practices, socializing, not to mention your jobs and summer work for older step kids. Summer family mealtimes are great opportunities to spend quality time together in a blended family.

Blended family communication

Keep blended family time, like mealtimes, a safe place for anyone to talk about whatever they wish to share. Make it easy for the step kids to feel comfortable sharing something – anything - about themselves with the entire step family.

Having fun at blended family mealtimes

Try making the extra work setting and clearing the table outside into a team effort. Play music stepsiblings can sing along with together while they work cooperatively. Extend your blended family time by playing a family game at the table. The important thing is to play together as a blended family, to laugh and to enjoy each other.

Laugh it up

Ha. Ha-ha. Ha-ha-ha. Ha-ha-ha-ha. Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! What is that? It is the sound of five people sitting around a table playing the Ha-ha Game.  You begin the string of Ha’s with the first person saying it once. The next person around the table increases the number of Ha’s by one, and so on with each person, going around the table increasing the number of Ha’s by one. Anyone can reverse direction with a hand signal like a finger snap or tap on the table, and with the change of direction around the table, the number of Ha’s decreases by one, until someone reverses direction again. Even the glummest of adolescents have been known to laugh out loud in this game!

Blended family mealtimes are an excellent way to grow together as a family, and bond, learn social skills, and laugh with each other, as well. Congenial and caring mealtime conversations can take on the nurturing aspects that nutritious foods provide, making blended family goals easier to reach. For more information on how to nourish your blended family, contact The Blended and Step Family Resource Center.