What Everyone Should Know About Daily Family Habits

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Everyday Habits Are Important

When we build everyday habits we are setting ourselves up for a lifetime of healthy living. Northwestern Medicine says that daily habits can help us:

• Reduce stress
• Reduce anxiety
• Improve mental health
• Increase time to relax
• Experience better sleep
• Enjoy better health
• Set a good example for your family

I would LOVE these outcomes in my life. Who couldn’t use less stress and better sleep? If you would love to learn some easy habits that will help you achieve all of this AND improve your family, read on!

What habits should you do every day?

Last week I was scrolling Instagram and saw post of 75 things to do every day. As soon as I saw it, it made me want to to go back to bed. Seriously. 75??

My list of “need to” and “want to” is already very long. How in the world would I fit in 75 DAILY activities? Is it even possible to make 75 items habits? Unless that list includes things like going to the bathroom and having a cup of coffee, that’s too much for me. If you can do it, rock on!

If that’s too much for you, and the thought of 75 daily actions makes you want to go back to bed too, I have a much more simplified suggestion!

My list of daily habits is based on Scripture. As a Jesus follower, I want to live the way the Bible teaches. And if you’re still reading, you probably want the same thing.
So here’s my healthy faith and family list of practices to do every day:
1. read your Bible (Joshua 1:8). New to the Bible or don’t know how to read it (it’s not like a “regular” book), try finding a plan you like here.
2. pray…all day, and start early…for forgiveness of sins, for family, nation, and world (1 Thessalonians 5:17; Mark 1:35)
3. kiss your spouse like you mean it (Song of Solomon 1:2)
4. tell you kids that you love them and they’re great (1 Peter 4:8)
5. take time to do something for you – read a book, bake a cake, sleep…not social media. (3 John 1:2; Mark 6:31)

Why these habits?

I gave Scriptures above to help you see the Biblical reasons for each habit. But I know it can be tough to include new habits without really buying into the why.

To that end, let’s look at why you should consider including these 5 daily habits – and see how they will help your family.

1. When we read our Bible we draw closer to God, we see how He wants us to live, and we learn to “cast our cares upon Him” (1 Peter 5:7). When we read the Bible, we see all the ways God has taken care of His people through time. By understanding how He helps His people, we are much more likely to cast our cares on Him. When we learn to give our concerns, fears, and anxieties to God, we learn that we can have a calm spirit. We don’t need to be anxious, depressed, or stressed. This is great news, right?! Our spouse and kids will LOVE a mom who is calm and not stressed. This reason alone is enough for me!
2. Daily prayer goes hand in hand with reading the Bible. When we learn to pray, we are learning to give our concerns to God. We are learning to hand over our problems. Yes, sometimes we grab them back a few minutes later. But as soon as we realize we are worrying or stressing again, we pray it back to God. I engage in this back-and-forth about problems with God all day! I’m hoping you see that this process alone can take most of the day. We should also pray for people as we think of them. You think about your son at college? Pray for Him – ask God to protect his heart and mind and keep him safe. Your daughter’s test comes to mind? Pray that God would give her peace during the test and that she would do well. It’s okay to pray for success (Proverb 16:3). Likewise, it’s important to understand that sometimes we still fail. Those times are good teachers, too! When we pray for others in our family, we are orienting our heart toward theirs – that habit alone will help your family.
3. Kissing our spouse like we mean it is so important to our marriage – and an easy practice to begin! I’m talking about more than a peck here. I mean like a 5-second, hold him tight, close your eyes, soak in the moment KISS! You can totally do this in front of the kids. It doesn’t have to be R-rated. Just a good, sound kiss. Our kids benefit from seeing their parents being loving with each other. Especially these days, with inappropriate physical connection available everywhere we look, kids need to see healthy models of physical intimacy.
4. Some of us think our kids just know we love them. However, parents spend a great deal of time correcting, telling, leading, and disciplining. Our kids need to know we love them, too! Our love should outweigh our correction. There are lots of ways to show love. Getting to know your kids and teens love language is one way to start. Playing a game is a great way to show love, especially if it’s a game your kid likes. Another great way to show love is to acknowledge when our kids do something nice by thanking them.
5. Finally, take some time for you. Do something YOU enjoy doing. It’s okay if it’s just reading a book for a few minutes or sitting outside with a cup of coffee. I don’t recommend social media, though. There are lots of benefits to social media, but when you’re taking time for yourself, it’s easy to begin comparing (not relaxing at all) and to lose track of time. When we take time to do something for ourselves, we are resting our souls a bit. When we are more relaxed we have more to give our families. Not used to taking time for yourself? Begin with a Sabbath rest, then build a few of those strategies through the rest of the week.

Where will you begin?

Maybe you already do some of these five habits. If so great!

If not, where will you begin? Let us know in the comments. I really want to know.

Some people begin making changes all at once while others choose to integrate changes one at a time. Make a decision about how you’ll begin making these five behaviors a habit and get going! Your family will thank you, I promise.

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🌸 Andrea

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