SEC17 WK:#2: your family and leisure activities

_{My family participating in one of the leisure activities}

"All work without play makes jack a dull boy". This statement has been repeated by millions of people. A working jack can turn workaholic and a compulsive worker, if he works without play. Jack aside, children do feel disconnected from us when we spend more of our time for our personal interest.

This arises depression, anxiety and loneliness amongst family members which can deprive children their happiness. How can I battle loneliness in my family? In today's detailed post, I will highlight those leisure activities me and my family do participate so as to drive away loneliness, depression and anxiety. Read along....

_{My lovely family🌹}

I was born into a lovely, united and caring family, so with this good qualities built-in my family background, we view leisure activities as one of the most important thing that strengthen family bond. I can remember when I sat my mother down, and asked her why our family is different from others in terms of catching fun during our leisure time.

She said "I worth more than a gold to my mother because of the way she loved , cared and cherished me like an egg. we play at any leisure time and this strengthened our family, especially when i lost my father". I felt so emotional after she said this, but at the same time happy because she's seen the good side of creating time for us and i imitate her.

Just the same way my mother was loved and cherished by her own mother, we're loved and cherished by her too, that's why we view leisure activities as the core value that strengthen family bond.

_{My 2 kid sisters i cherish so much}

I have 2 kid sisters who are still in school and sometimes their time is always occupied because they have to do their homework and prepare ahead of tomorrow's lesson. But even with this, my family do arrange by scheduling time for leisure activities. Every Saturday, i do take a day break from work just to engage in leisure activities with my family. This makes them feel loved and cared for.

Every thursdays is our meeting program in church, so after the meeting which closes by 5pm, i have no where else to go than to sit out with my family at any lounge of our choice during that thursday evening. We eat, we drink, we gist and even at that spot, we play. If it's easy for me as a teenager to create time for my family so as to partake in leisure activities, you can also find it easy to do that.

_{Selecting weed out of the waterleaf}

Waterleaf farming is our family business, we feed, cloth and cater for our needs through it. I do enjoy working together with my mother and siblings as a team in our waterleaf farm by selecting weeds out of it, for proper growth and germination. Handling a waterleaf farm isn't an individual task, so we enjoy helping ourselves during our leisure time.

When the waterleaf is ready for sale, we join hands together to cut them off and select it fruits properly before taking it to the market. Sometimes i late for work because i have to go to the market with my mother so as to help her with the heavy waterleaf bag. I enjoy doing this because it's one of the things that strengthens our family bond.

_{Cooking together}

My mother normally says "What are we going to cook today? Why don't she says "What I'm i going to cook today? See the reason. It's part of my family lifestyle to join hands together as a team to help in cooking. And as my mother says, the meal is always outstanding and delicious when cooked as a team. Cooking together as a family is far beyond leisure activities because my 2 kid sisters can cook perfectly, just like my mother can.

When cooking as a team, this moment opens floor for each and everyone of us to gist about our day. Also, it's always easy for my kid sisters to tell mother and i what happened while in school, and as a caring and loving family, we use this moment as a golden opportunity to help them out through the scriptures if necessary.

_{Playing outdoors activities, like puzzle game}

My mother don't get tired of loosing 😂, how can you compare young children smartness with yours? That's a puzzle game played among my family members during leisure time. It's an alphabet matching puzzle, the defending champion will call out a three or four letter then we'll look for it inside the puzzle box and identify. It's a game i do enjoy every evening with my family when i get back from work.

I'm always tired after all the stress from the construction site, but even with this, i still sacrifice atleast 1 hour of my time to have fun with my family because they'll also do the same. This particular leisure activity makes my kid sisters discerning and outsmart their classmates in school when it comes to reasoning. I pray my mother wins next time so that she won't feel bad and retrieve from the puzzle game.

_{Watching animations/cartoon together}

My mother's best channel is Zee world, mine is super sports while my siblings love watching cartoon network and junior network were all kind of cartoon movies will be shown. Despite the fact that we have our favorite, me and my mother talked about it, so we all agreed to stick to cartoon network so as to make my kid sisters enjoy the leisure time with us.

The leisure activities has been going well, guess what? I'm in love with cartoon network just the same way my sisters do and this makes them happy. When talking about leisure activities, it's something or moment everybody should be happy about, that's why i made that decision with my mother.

My mother, me and my siblings do participate in our family leisure activities. We are a family of four, but one person is missing in this photo, which is my elder sister. She travelled out of the state to find greener pastures so as to make ends meet. But even with her absence, when i organize indoors leisure activities, such as ludo game, whot and quiz, i call her on WhatsApp via video call for her to participate with us twice a week, isn't that nice?

Take home advice for kids & parents👇🏾?

The Almighty started a lovely family here on earth with the aim to see them multiply, love and cherish one another. The deprive themselves that happiness because of their wrong doings. Each and everyone of us here has a family, let's not imitate Adam and Eve, instead let's foster unity, strengthen love and care for our family by participating in leisure activities being it indoors or outdoors.

All pictures are mine, captured from my device (Tecno Camon20)

I'm inviting @mhizta @kouba01 and @okere-blessing to participate in this amazing contest.

CC,
@steemkidss