.: Family Night

We all make excuses not to spend quality time with our family. “I’m tired”, “I had a hard day at work.”, “We don’t have enough money.”, “I have things to do around the house.”, “My favorite show is on.” You know you do it! We all do. I do. Come on I would rather check my Facebook account then play with cars, but I should play cars with my son. Since, I work in the evenings after my husband gets home from work we don’t get a lot of time together. So, we created family night. We turn off the computers, TV, cell phones, and the rest of the world and for one evening a week we have family night. We try to do something different each week. It doesn’t always have to cost money. We have dinner at home we try to cook and clean up together, which our 2 year old now loves to “cook” & “wash” dishes (standing on the step stool next to us). That’s what it’s about though - just being a family without the rest of the world tearing us apart. This month we painted our pumpkins we picked the week before. (Painting because the thought of a 2 years old with a craving knife not such a smart idea.) I encourage you to make a family night. We have Wednesdays - I have scheduled my life so nothing else can be scheduled on that night. It has become a precious time that I cherish and protect. Pick a night that works best for your family and seize that time for your family. Remember you never hear someone on their death bed say “Man I wish I spent less time with my family.” Here are some Family Night Ideas, if you have more please share them, I get stumped sometimes.

1) Make homemade pizza together

2) Go to the park play on the toys and bring a picnic dinner

3) Monkey Joe’s indoor bouncy house

4) Have dinner at home then go to McDonald’s play on the toys and have ice cream off the dollar menu

5) Play hind-and-go-seek in the house. (Kaiden can count to 10 b/c of this game)

6) Have dinner at Sonic’s and play on the toys

7) Bowling

8) Make scavenger hunt in the backyard

9) Play a game

10) Make cookies then give them to your neighbors

11) Volunteer at a retirement home, animal shelter, or homeless shelter
12) At Christmas time go sing Christmas songs and hand out cookies at your friends house.
13) Make a craft project with things from the recycle bin.
14) Watch a movie together (not too often because of the lack of interaction).
15) Go on a walk or hike.