How do you set aside family time when life is busy?
Spring is the season of the year when we spend the least amount of time together as a family. Sometimes Brian is only home for an hour (or less) before the kids, especially the littlest ones, need to go to bed. So how do we make sure that we are still connecting as a family?
1) We eat together whenever possible. We can't always hold dinner until Brian comes home, but we still set his place and when he does arrive home, we often gather at the table to talk. On the weekends that he is off, we aim to eat all three meals together.
2) We set aside time for weekly in-depth devotions. We have family Bible and prayer time almost every Monday evening. It's one evening Brian rarely works late. Right now we are working our way through the What's in the Bible? series.
3) We plan movie nights at home about once a month. The kids ask all the time, "When are we having movie night again?!" We usually keep the chosen movie a secret until the day of the event. We plan special snacks (popcorn and candy or ice cream sundaes or homemade cookies). If the movie is longer than thirty minutes, we plan to put Benjamin and Alaine to bed after snacks because they lose interest. Some of our movie favorites have been The Muppets
, Dolphin Tale
, and Robin Good and His Not-So-Merry Men
. It can be a little tough finding spare time for movie night during the busy season so we've even used nap time on a Saturday afternoon (though the kids still prefer movie night.)
How do you spend time together as a family? Let us know in the comments.
, Dolphin Tale, and Robin Good and His Not-So-Merry Men. It can be a little tough finding spare time for movie night during the busy season so we've even used nap time on a Saturday afternoon (though the kids still prefer movie night.)
How do you spend time together as a family? Let us know in the comments.
Also, I'm running out of ideas for my How Do You...? feature. If you have a question for a future "How Do You...?" post, share that in the comments, too, or send me an e-mail!
Thank you for sharing these tips. We also do these at home to make sure that our family is able to spend time together. I am writing an abstract on your blog and post it to our website.
ReplyDeleteWe also always eat meals together when Tim's home. I think this is such an important time to reconnect and talk about the day.
ReplyDeleteWe're also loving the What's in the Bible? series. Have you bought the rest of the DVDs?
Emahry and Jonathan also liked Dolphin Tale.
Some ideas:
How do you:
...get the kids to help around the house (chores)?
...deal with children fussing when told to do something?
...organize toys and kids' books?
...teach children to pray?
...find time for creative outlets?
...teach children to clean up after themselves?
...address events that will keep you out past your children's bedtimes?
Hope that gives you some more ideas :)
Yes, we talked about it and decided that since the kids were learning so much, we would purchase the rest of the series.
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks for the ideas. :-)
We've watched through DVD 3, but we will be ordering DVD 6 & 7 soon.
ReplyDeleteWe try to "work" together when we have a project that needs to be done. Sometimes it's easier than other times.
ReplyDeleteI'd be interested in how you introduce solids to your babies and what you do to encourage them to eat solids when you do introduce them and they don't like them. I did read your post from a couple of years ago on that. My son 10 1/2 months still won't eat more than a couple of tiny bites.