More than Just A FAMILY Night

You ever watch the Brady Brunch and wonder how all 9 of them could get their homework done, eat dinner together as a family, and STILL have time for game night before the whole-- bath, books and bedtime routine?

Me, either.  I guess that's why it was a TV show.

Well, at the Ring household, the only way for us to do it is to skip one night of bath and books so we can make time to play games. Chutes and ladders, Memory Game, or Micah's favorite: Battleship!!!  Daddy, you sunk my battleship!



For us, it's about nurturing family relationships early on.  Begin with the end in mind.  What we're building now is going to be crucial in those teen years!  Later on, they'll see that we are modeling that we make time for family.  When they're all in school and our days are reduced to a "hi" and "bye", this time together will be even more important.

 

We don't want to talk about your grades or your girlfriend we don't like, we just want to have fun together and have a safe place where the lines of communication are open.  We hope it will allow them to talk about anything.  And if you're with us and it's fun and cool, you're less likely to be engaged in other things not so fun and way not cool.  Heck, if we do this right, you may be bringing your friends and even that girlfriend (we still don't like) for family night.  Um, better our house than hers!

Movie Night with the Newtons and Pavones

And this is good old-fashioned fun where we can watch a movie and laugh together or play games----which means that you are free of distractions with ipads and iphones and xbox's and whatever virtual nonsense it will be in 8-10 years! 

Popcorn, anyone?

We plan to continue our Wednesday night family nights and with a little budget as they get older, we can do indoor rock-climbing or laser tag or screen on the green.  The fun is limitless and creating a ritual now will be so much easier than trying to enforce togetherness when they are in their rebellious adolescence.  Hope this works!