Parenting 101: 5 Ways to Facilitate a Teamwork Environment at Home

Teamwork is a key component to accomplishing goals and responsibilities for everyone. When we all work together, things get done more accurately and efficiently. Teaching your children teamwork skills is an incredibly crucial aspect of parenting and can start at a very young age. While every child has different skill sets, strengths and goals, practicing teamwork gives them an opportunity to appreciate their talents and develop them further.

It is important to work together as a family to accomplish common goals around the home. After all, teamwork makes the dream work. Facilitating an environment of family teamwork is not as difficult as it may sound. There are a few simple ways to encourage everyone in your family to work together in a teamwork environment, learning how to act as a team rather than an individual.

1. Volunteer

Volunteering as a family within your local community is a fantastic team building exercise for the entire family to participate in. Whether your kiddos are really young or you have teenagers, volunteering together is a great bonding experience and way to give back.  Everyone will learn to achieve a common goal and it teaches your children the true value of teamwork. You can do things like pick up trash in the local park, stock shelves at the food bank and even help your neighbours out by clearing the driveway of snow or yard of leaves. 

2. Share Chores

Chores are one of the most traditional and productive ways for a family to work together as a team. Parents can assign separate chores to everyone to take care of during cleaning time. This is the perfect way to show your children that things are done much faster and more efficiently when completed as a team, allowing for more time to spend together as a family doing other things you enjoy. Make it a goal to get all the clean up done in a certain amount of time and have a reward at the end, like a trip to the local ice cream shop!

3. Play Team Building Games

Playing games as a family is a fantastic and engaging way to build teamwork. There are several activities families can do together while creating a teamwork atmosphere. Games like charades are perfect for team building. Building with Lego and creating puzzles are also things that families can participate in that encourage everyone to work together. Even regular board games can become opportunities to work as a team if you pair up or create groups. 

4. Communicate

Having open lines of communication with your family is incredibly important. This allows your children to start thinking of the family as a team, leading everyone to learn to problem solve together. Encouraging communication is a fantastic way to encourage everyone to work together to a common goal. When families express themselves to each other openly, it builds trust, resulting in teamwork. And as the parent of a teenager I find that the trust we built up as my daughter was younger has really paid off now. 

5. Set Family Goals

Setting goals as a family allows everyone to work together to achieve something that benefits everyone. Sit down and set goals for your household, chores and family time that everyone can play a part in reaching. Whether you want to transform your backyard into a fantastic play area or create a cozy family game room, setting a goal that will benefit everyone in the family is a great way to encourage everyone to work towards it. You can even start with a small goal, like saving up for a night at the movies and work up to bigger goals.  Have the kiddos save their change in a jar in the kitchen and label it. Parents can add to it as well.  Seeing the amount increase every few days will also encourage everyone to keep on working together to reach your common goal. 

Facilitating a teamwork environment at home is incredibly important to your family and teaches your children how to work together with other people to achieve goals. This will serve them well as they enter into adulthood. Spend some time participating in volunteer work, sharing chores, playing team building games, communicating and setting goals with your family. These will all help to create a teamwork environment at home, where everyone will benefit.

What are ways your family creates a teamwork environment? 

FT&PD

Suz

**Please check out our other Parenting 101 posts and share your ideas with us! 

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