14 strategies for families to find quality time together

One of the biggest shifts for our family was realising that quality time doesn’t have to be planned, productive, or instructional — it needs to feel safe and attuned.

When children feel pushed to “make the most” of time together, connection often disappears.

We started slowing down and listening to their rhythm instead: adjusting plans, following their interests, and allowing space for rest or play when needed.

Some of our most meaningful moments now come from going with the flow — a swim instead of another activity, a museum that sparked curiosity, or simply being together without pressure.

What matters isn’t how much you do, but whether your child feels seen and comfortable enough to be themselves. When safety and flexibility are present, connection happens naturally.

Pick one daily moment that is protected from distractions and stick to it. In our family, we made meals a no devices zone, which opened space for language development and simple emotional check-ins. It turned a routine part of the day into reliable quality time.

The most effective way my family has maintained meaningful connection is by scheduling consistent, one-on-one time. As a founder and CEO who moved to the San Francisco Bay Area while my parents live abroad, I commit to a 30-60-minute call each week with each of them individually. Having these conversations scheduled in advance removes the friction of “finding time,” and keeping them one-on-one allows for deeper, more focused conversations than group calls typically allow. Despite the distance, this routine has helped us feel closer than ever. When life makes in-person time difficult, intentional, consistent one-on-one conversations can create real quality time.

One family tip I would definitely suggest is to stop waiting for the big, perfectly planned moments and instead focus on the consistency of quality time. Quality time doesn’t necessarily have to be in a different week or on a vacation. It may be something as simple as eating a meal together without any phones or taking a short walk after dinner. By lowering the pressure, it becomes easier to show up more regularly, which is definitely more important than the length of time spent.

My family’s successful strategy has been to reserve a small, tightly guarded time slot every week that everyone considers non-negotiable. For us, it is a straightforward weekly ritual when we cook a meal together and then sit down without any distractions. Because it is foreseeable, it does not feel like another thing to plan, and therefore, everyone is aware of it.

Small moments grow to be substantial over time. They open up opportunities for conversation, creating memories and bonding that naturally extend into the rest of the week. When families decide to be present rather than perfect, quality time becomes less about finding extra hours and more about a conscious decision about how to use the time they already have.

One thing I’ve learned is that quality time usually doesn’t disappear because families don’t care. It disappears because everyone is tired and waiting for the perfect window that never shows up. My advice is to stop trying to add more to the calendar and instead protect one small, predictable rhythm that belongs to your family. It might be dinner at the table three nights a week, a walk after church, or a set bedtime routine that doesn’t get bumped for emails or screens. Consistency matters more than duration, and kids feel that stability even when life is busy.

What has worked well for our family is anchoring our time together around normal life instead of special events. We try to be fully present during the things we are already doing anyway, like meals, car rides, or winding down at night. Phones stay away, work talk waits, and we focus on listening. It isn’t always long or elaborate, but it is intentional, and over time those small moments have added up to real connection.

As a lead dentist and a busy practice owner, I see this challenge in my own family and with many of my patients as well.

My advice: don’t aim for more time together; aim for protected time. Quality time doesn’t have to be long, but it does need to be intentional.

What has worked well for my family is setting one non-negotiable family ritual each week. For us, it’s a simple device-free dinner followed by a short walk. No phones, no work talk, no rushing. Even on the busiest weeks, we treat that time like an important appointment.

That small, consistent habit has made a big difference. It creates a predictable moment of connection, reduces stress, and reminds everyone that being present matters more than being perfect.

One piece of advice I always give families is this: don’t aim for more time, aim for more intention.

As a practice owner, my schedule can be unpredictable. Long clinic days, staff management, and patient care don’t always leave big blocks of free time. What worked best for my family was protecting small, non-negotiable rituals instead of waiting for “perfect” free days.

For us, it’s a daily 20-30 minute device-free window in the evening. No phones. No TV. Just sitting together, talking about the day, or even doing something simple like having tea or a quick walk. It sounds small, but consistency is what makes it powerful.

Another strategy that helped was planning quality time like an appointment. Just as I wouldn’t cancel a patient without reason, we block one family activity each week, sometimes it’s a meal out, sometimes a game night, sometimes just errands done together.

What I’ve learned is that children don’t need constant entertainment or long hours. They need presence, predictability, and attention even in short bursts. When families stop chasing quantity and start focusing on intentional moments, quality time becomes much easier to sustain.

One way that has helped us manage time and connection is that we combined daily responsibilities with our connection. Rather than saying quality time is a separate event, when we had busy calendars, we began doing parallel time where both people worked on separate tasks but were still in the same space, talking together as needed. Working on homework, planning or even folding laundry together was a great way to create low-pressure moments for conversation because it did not put pressure on either person to focus on connection.

We were able to create an environment for a more relaxed type of conversation by removing the need for quality time to be long or special. By creating a routine of sharing daily responsibilities, trust and openness developed naturally over the course of our relationship.

Additionally, this changed our mindset from trying to be intentional about finding time to being intentional about being fully present in every moment we had together.

One night a week is nonnegotiable. No plans, no phones, no distractions. We pull an activity from a jar and spend the evening together. Some weeks it’s a fun activity. Some weeks it’s work. But we always have that one night to commit to each other.

Pick a daily window for family and shift your work around it. I moved my work to early mornings or late nights when no one needed me, so I could be fully present with my family and give my son my full attention before he left for college. Protecting that time kept us close without derailing the business.