“The Lost Art of Family Sundays: 10 Ways to Revive Togetherness”

There was a time when Sundays in Nigeria came with their own rhythm, a softer pulse you could feel in the neighborhood, the marketplace and the sitting room. Church bells carried across sleepy streets, children in Sunday best chased each other around verandas, aunties prepared jollof with hands that had long memories of family recipes, and the television hummed with programmes everyone could quote. Sunday was a ritual, a gentle ceremony where stories were told, arguments forgiven, and love quietly renewed.

Today the picture is different, like an old photograph left in the sun. Hustle culture crept into the corners of the week, and now it lives in our Sundays. Parents are buried in freelance gigs or office emails, children are glued to screens, and meals are squeezed between errands and last-minute deadlines. The sacred pause has been replaced by a hurried check of the week ahead, a phone call that should have waited, a lunch that ended too soon.

Why it matters

Sundays were never merely about food or church, they were about family, about slowing down long enough to listen. They were the weekly course-correction where values were passed on, where laughter and admonition lived in the same room. When we lose Sunday we don’t just lose a tradition, we erode a place where children learn the rhythms of belonging, where elders pass on their stories, where homes become deeper than roofs and walls. That erosion shows up as disconnected households, lonely parents, and children who have never learned how to sit in the quiet of a family meal.

Ten ways to bring Sunday back

1. No-Phone Sunday Lunch

Designate one meal where phones sleep in a basket, not on the table. For one hour, make eye contact, tell stories, and let the laughter rise without notification interruptions. The food will taste richer because attention has returned to the table.

2. Cook Together, Not Just Eat Together

The kitchen has always been the theatre of family life, let it be that again. Give tasks to the kids, let dad stir the pot, allow small disasters and bigger laughs. When everyone adds a little labour to the meal, the end result carries a hundred quiet conversations inside it.

3. Family Story Hour

Ask grandparents or parents to tell one story from their younger years, make it a weekly thing. These are not rehearsed histories, they are warm, messy, human stories that teach, amuse, and remind everyone they belong to a longer line.

4. Board Games and Ludo Wars

Bring back ayo, ludo or a deck of cards, whichever starts the most laughter. These small competitions teach play, patience and the art of teasing kindly. Losing becomes a lesson, winning becomes a family joke, and the room fills with noise that stitches people together.

5. Evening Family Walks

A 20-minute walk after dinner changes the shape of the evening. Step away from the TV, notice the neighbors, breathe the night air, and give room for soft conversations that don’t fit anywhere else. Walks reset the mind, and they create time for real check-ins.

6. Sunday Praise and Prayer Circle

Whether you call it praise, reflection or gratitude time, gather for a short moment that centers the family. It doesn’t need to be long or formal, just a space where each voice can speak, where thanks are named and burdens quietly shared.

7. Old Movie or Nollywood Throwback

Pick a classic everyone remembers, dim the lights, make popcorn and let nostalgia do the work. These shared cultural moments invite jokes, mimicry and the kind of laughter that echoes in memory long after the credits roll.

8. Journaling or Gratitude Sharing

Ask each person to name one small thing they are grateful for, and one small thing they hope the next week brings. You’ll be surprised how quickly gratitude becomes contagious, and how the quiet practice rewires the family mood.

9. Neighbourhood Bonding

Bring back the gentle drop-in, invite a neighbour for zobo or share a plate with someone who lives next door. Restoring community ties widens the family circle, and it returns Sundays to the public heart as much as the private one.

10. Unplugged Music Sessions

Turn down the playlist, pick up a phone or drum on the table, sing a hymn or an old highlife tune. Music is how we remember our best selves, it loosens tongues and makes room for joy that no algorithm can replicate.

Small steps, big return

Reclaiming Sunday is not an all-or-nothing challenge, it is a series of small, stubborn acts. Start with one hour, then two, then a ritual that belongs to your family. The point is presence, not perfection. When families choose to show up for one another, the rest of life becomes easier to carry.

The final word

In a country that moves fast and asks a lot, protecting one day of slow is an act of resistance. Make Sunday a sanctuary again, not because it was better back then, but because your family deserves a weekly place to breathe, to belong and to be reminded that at the end of every hectic week, there is a home waiting.

Also read:

• The Hustle Mentality is Eating Us From Inside Out

• 5 Healthy Habits for Busy Nigerians Who Want to Stay Sane and Sharp

• When the Grid Goes Dark: How Nigerians Survive a Broken Power System