Our family regularly has the dilemma that each individual wants to do something different. We’ll argue over which game to play, what movie to watch, or where we go to do something fun.

With so many different personalities it can be hard to cater for everyone.

Often we take it in turns who gets to choose the activity, but sometimes it’s nice to know that everyone is on board with the idea!

So this weekend, when we wanted to spend quality time together as a family, the discussions began again. My husband and our youngest wanted to go for a bike ride. It sounded wonderful to get some fresh air, exercise and enjoy the fact that it wasn’t raining. However, to our eldest, that was the last thing on his mind. For him, it was too cold; a day for being inside, watching a movie or colouring.

Dilemma – how could we have time together so that everyone enjoyed themselves? My husband had a brainwave. He’s got a similar personality to our son, so he suggested that before we go on the bike ride, we ask our son to write a treasure hunt – draw a map and create clues or challenges at points along the route.  That engaged him in something creative, which he likes to do – and all of a sudden, the bike ride was a great idea.

Now, it delayed us leaving for two hours! Nevertheless, in that time he thoroughly enjoyed designing activities; like stopping at a particular bench for hot chocolate (that we needed to take with us), pausing at a bridge to play pooh sticks and playing in a park on the way home.

It was simple, and it took a bit of patience from all of us, but in the end we enjoyed our family afternoon much more – it was so much fun!

If you have different personalities in your family, are there ways you can incorporate things that each person likes to do, that will help create a unique experience for all of you?