Guest Contribution by Indiana Lee
Sitting down for a cup of tea on your own makes for a relaxing and sometimes introspective experience. But sharing that love of tea with your family can benefit them as well. Not only can you help them find calm and comfort throughout their everyday lives, you can also use it as an avenue to connect.
Whether you want to share your love of tea with the people you live with or family members across the country, there’s no “wrong” time or way to introduce them to the benefits of tea time.
Not sure how to get started? No matter your situation, let’s cover some of the benefits of quality tea time with your family, and how you can make them happen.
The Mental Health Benefits
To say we’re living in a stressful world would probably be an understatement. As a result, many people have tried to find ways to regularly reduce stress levels. Tea can help.
Research has shown that drinking tea can lower the levels of cortisol within the body. Cortisol is known as the “stress hormone,” and high levels of it can cause problems like:
- High blood pressure
- Weight gain
- Weakened immune system
- Intestinal issues
High stress levels can also contribute to mental health conditions like anxiety or depression. Because tea can lower cortisol levels, it’s great for family members who might be dealing with a lot of stress in their lives. Whether they’re going through relationship issues, a job loss, or other personal problems, introducing them to tea and having a cup or two with them can boost their mental wellness.
It’s also a great way to calm your kids (and yourself!) down before bed. By making a cup of chamomile tea a part of your children’s nighttime routine, you can relax with them while you’re reading or listening to a story and let the natural soothing effects of the tea help them sleep comfortably – even if you’re not able to be there with them in person.
It Can Help You Connect From Afar
Setting up a consistent tea time with your family is a great way to stay connected to all of your long-distance relationships. Maybe you’re a parent who doesn’t live with your kids, but you want to talk to them every day. Maybe you live in a different state from most of your family members. Whatever the case, setting aside time regularly to have a cup of tea “together” and chat will make it easier to stay connected. As a long-distance parent, for example, you can maintain a fulfilling relationship with your child by:
- Sticking to a schedule
- Utilizing different forms of communication
- Making time for them
You can even send your child different types of tea that you can try together over the phone or through a video chat. Obviously, the tea isn’t what makes the visit special. It’s a great way to start up a conversation and provide a sense of togetherness.
Even with other family members, connecting virtually with a cup of tea can help everyone feel more relaxed and more likely to strike up an interesting conversation.
It Can Help You Connect With Your Household
If the COVID-19 pandemic taught us anything, it’s the importance of staying in touch with the people we love. But it’s just as crucial to make sure you know what’s going on with the people in your own household.
We all have busy lives. You might not see your spouse or partner for more than a few minutes each morning before they go to work. You might feel like you’re in your car for hours each day running your kids to practices and rehearsals. It’s not always enough to just “set aside time” to talk to your family.
Using something like tea to bring you all together can make a difference, especially if you make an “event” out of it. Having tea time with your kids can benefit them in many ways, including:
- It gives them something to look forward to
- It teaches them responsibility
- It instills an environment of calm and peace
- It gives them a safe space and time to open up and share what’s going on in their lives
By setting aside time each day to enjoy a cup of tea with your family, you’ll feel more connected and more in touch with everyone’s lives. You might all start to love it so much that you incorporate tea drinking into your holidays and events, like getting your partner a new variety of flavors for their birthday or waking up on Christmas morning and enjoying a few pastries with a holiday-style blend.
Introducing tea to your family will establish benefits for them that they can carry with them for a lifetime. It will help everyone to feel less stressed, more connected, and more in tune with themselves and each other.
Photo “a cup of rooibos tea in teabag” is under an irrevocable, nonexclusive, worldwide copyright license to the photographer TeaCora Rooibos and is being posted unaltered (source)
