There were exactly 30 days this month, but if you recall, I was off to a late start. I struggled to find something I wanted to commit to and was passionate about this month. With the start of a new school year, comes more and more busy days and nights. It made me realize that I wanted to dedicate the few hours I had a night to spending it with my family. That meant putting aside my own personal interests for a few hours. Sadly, that’s easier said than done.
The idea for this goal came from a homework sheet my oldest child brought home from school. On it were 30 days of activities. She was supposed to accomplish– with the help of me–3 activities a week for a total of 12 activities. Let’s be real, some weeks were easier than others to sit down at the table after dinner and practice things like ABCs or writing numbers, and others were fun and made us laugh together like hopping, twirling and skipping 10 times or name things that start with the letter “s”: stinky sun— insert 5 year old laughter.
The picture on the left is a sampling of the activities we completed and the picture on the right is her response to the homework questions–note her responses are not on the correct lines. #wewillgetthere
From these activities, I made a goal to complete one larger activity a week as a family. The trick was to have no distractions–ie. no phones or side conversations. We made a very conscious effort to keep to this goal, and I have to admit my husband did even better at it then me—I mean I need my phone to take pictures, right?
All joking aside, this goal made me realize we actually do a ton together as a family. But, being more connected to my children during the activities also made me a better listener and a more engaged mother. The results allowed me to have more fun and that in itself was rewarding.
In case you are looking for some ideas for your own family nights, here are a few that worked for us.
- game night
- ice cream outing
- swimming at lake and/or indoors
- trip to the zoo
- picnic at the park
- library special
- school event
- movie night
- farmers market
- dinner out
If you have any great family related activities, I’d like to keep adding to my list of ideas. Feel free to drop your idea in the comment section. The more the merrier!
From the list above, one of my favorites was movie night, even though the youngest–who is three- didn’t make it past the first 10 minutes; she still found entertainment in making sure all of her “guys” were lined up ready to watch the movie and eat popcorn.
The oldest had been asking about the movie night the entire week and was so excited when Friday rolled around. She chose the movie Snow White since she had never seen it, but it proved to be too scary for her, and she made me turn it off after about 45 minutes. It still loved the experience of making homemade popcorn, picking out the film, and cuddling up together on the couch, so it was still a very fun, family oriented activity that brought us all together.
To read the initial post for September’s 30 Day Challenge Reveal, you can click here. I hope you are inspired to try a challenge in October; I’m about ready to reveal mine.
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