Bonding with your family is one of the best things you can do over a vacation. Make summer bonding dates with your family more special with these tips that are sure to keep the fun going and bring everyone closer.

1. Disconnect!
Turn off your mobile phones and shut off your computers. Tune out all the social media noise in the world and enjoy your time together, whether you're just vacationing at home or venturing out on a family trip. If you absolutely must remain in contact with others, turn off your social notifications and restrict communication to private messages and calls. Without anything else to worry about or to distract you from the people you're spending time with, you'll be able to have more meaningful contact with your loved ones.

2. Plan your vacation together.
Vacation planning doesn't have to be entirely up to the parents, and should definitely consider everyone's inputs! Parents and children alike should sit down together and list down their interests and preferences as a family. That yearly trip to the beach planned by the parents may have been fun for the first twelve summers, but if the kids want to try a camping trip this time, or a lovely vacation cruise, that could be up for discussion. Ensuring that everyone has a say in the vacation plans will mean that they'll all get to have fun whatever happens, and you'll also get to learn more about each other's wants as you talk about things. Need help in planning where to go? Here are some of our suggestions.

3. Don't be afraid to split up into groups during vacation.
While family vacation time is designed around spending quality time with each other, that doesn't mean you have to do everything together as a complete group regardless of everyone's interests. If you go on a trip with many different activities available, consider grouping yourselves by interests. For example, on a beach trip to a great big resort paradise, mom and the girls could go shopping, while dad and the boys could try some water sports. Everyone gets quality family time while still doing things that they personally enjoy.

4. Reserve meal times for family.
Enjoying meals together as a family is always a must. Not only does eating together give you the opportunity to talk about anything and everything, there is more sense of security and togetherness to help the kids grow into healthy, well-rounded adults. Being together during meal times, whether at home or outside, has a positive impact on the children's values and self-esteem. Spending your family vacation at home? Not a problem! Cook these recipes for dinner and have dinner conversations going with every delicious spoonful.

Having quality family time does not only strengthen the bonds between parents and children, it also improves their well-being. Children are happier, healthier, and perform better altogether. This also decreases risk of children acting out because there is better communication amongst family members.

No matter what your family decides to do for the summer, the important thing is to be together and share plenty of hugs, laughter, and stories to build your memories on.