5 Fun Ways to Bridge the Gap Within Families

Wichita, Kansas | July 1st, 2026

By Esther Showstack | Planeta Venus

How does one bridge the gap between child and parent? Between parent and child? Summer, with all its days of emptiness, of cabin fever, and of a too-hot or too-cold forecast, has led me to wonder this, and has surely led you to wonder this too. Firsthand, I have learned the answer to this question; and, drawing on my experience, I have prepared some fun and easy ways to grow closer to your family, so that you can learn more about them and about what unexpected interests you may have in common.

It’s July, and, despite being stuck in Kansas for the time being—landlocked and deprived of a reprieve from our unpredictable weather, one day scalding hot and the next cloudy and grey—I’m thinking about my grandparents in California, and how I’ve spent entire languid, melting summers with them, the equivalent of idyllic bliss in the eyes of my younger self. Now I’m spending that entire languid, melting, freezing, raining summer in Kansas with my parents, and it’s given me the opportunity to grow closer to them than ever, while also allowing me to learn more about my heritage; and, moreover, it has allowed me to maintain my Spanish speaking and reading skills, with the help of my parents’ determination to speak to me exclusively en español.

Whether you’re on vacation in another state or are staying home like me, and whether you’re a parent or a youth reading this article, summer is always going to be your best time to grow closer with and more appreciative of your family, for the simple fact that during this time of year you’re, of course, going to have days when you are bored. If they’re not days, then they’re hours—or weeks. The boredom leads you and your thoughts to wander. It leads you to your family, who are stuck just like you, and it drives you to curiosity. It makes the summer the optimal time to share more about yourself with your loved ones: stories of your childhood; names of old pets; mementos from trips past; favorite songs, films, books. My father, having told me about his life on his family’s rancho in Mexico—the animals and the trees; his father’s and my grandfather’s habit of drinking raw eggs in his coffee; how my father would play pistolitas with his brothers; how they would splash in the stream—has caused me to gain more of an understanding of him and how he began to develop as a person.

The summer, with all its empty time slots waiting to be filled, also allows my family and me to bond over the hobbies we enjoy. Many afternoons—more than I’d like to admit—have been spent this summer watching films with my father: films from all sorts of countries and decades, films in many different languages, with many different plots. My father’s favorite films are those from his home country; his favorite decade, consequently, was its golden age, from the ’30s to the ’50s. Listening to his favorite music when he drives me places in the morning, watching his favorite films in the afternoons, and reading his favorite book beside him in the evenings have all allowed me to not only appreciate his impeccable taste but also to be able to communicate with him over a wider range of topics—topics over which we both now have knowledge and admire.

My father’s favorite book is Cervantes’ Don Quijote de la Mancha, from all the way back in 1605. Neither of us completely understands every single little detail of this thousand-page work—then again, who can?—yet reading it is a great way for me to practice reading in Spanish and learn a great deal of new words. I’m not saying that you (or your kids) should go ahead and start reading Don Quijote just to read something in Spanish—though if that idea entices you, be my guest—but I am saying that reading in Spanish is a great refresher for the summer, after spending an entire school year reading and conversing for the most part in English. The case is for me that school strengthens my English while weakening my Spanish; and as I do not want to lose the ability to communicate in my heritage language, I find that reading a book that has been enjoyed or recommended by a loved one draws me closer to them while at the same time allowing me to strengthen my Spanish abilities.

To put these skills into action, I often go on walks with one parent or the other; and it is in these forty-five minutes that I find we have our greatest and most meaningful discussions: the subjects of which encompass everything from our plans for the afternoon; to books we may one day write; to tales from middle school P.E. class, during which my mother was made to endure nonsensical forms of harassment, now hilarious in retrospect, from a girl that hated her for no apparent reason. These talks need not necessarily be spoken in Spanish; what counts is that we are talking, and sharing moments with one another rather than with our phones or computers or any other distraction that grows malevolent when abused. Moreover, I find this walking-and-talking to be a great use of time in the fact that not only does it exercise our brains and our mouths, but our bodies as well; and after the two miles of discussion that we end up traversing, we both end up feeling not only spent but closer together as parent-and-child.

Quality time has truly allowed my parents and me to bond; and another favorite way of ours to do so has been cooking together, namely through the making of lunch and dinner, the latter of which we all eat together as a family. If I am the head chef of the family—unanimously elected for the spot by my parents, who both agree that I have the greatest culinary capabilities of the three of us—then my father is the sous-chef, my helper in the kitchen: and his blunders in questing for ingredients, or in the assembly of which, have led us to form inside jokes and fond memories that we never fail to laugh about when dinnertime comes around.

Inside jokes, as they usually are formed on a whim, are one of the best byproducts of growing closer to your loved ones. By the end of the summer, you’ll definitely have a great many jokes shared with your parents (or with your children)—and that is one of the factors that make growing closer to one another totally worth it!