As I am writing my knew book, The Lost Art of Parenting, I thought I would ask all of you, who I know is very family oriented, what a couple of your favorite tried and true family activities are. It could be anything from family trips to making P&J sandwiches together. One thing my family likes to do is have art competitions. I am about to start one this week. I have a couple of empty spaces on my walls that are aching to get filled with my children's art. I prefer wrapped canvas because I can just hang it up without a frame.I am writing this book for the outside world to hear some LDS concepts in a non-religious or intimidating light. the world needs these principles and I plan on showing them the importance of family time without the guilt. The Lost Art of Parenting is not another dusty old parenting book that gets shoved in the furthest reaches of your closet. It's a guiltless parenting guide that you'll actually use! Can't wait to hear what fun activities your family does together!
We play board games all the time. We especially like Rack-O and Uno.
ReplyDeleteSome other favorite activities: walking the dogs at night (during school breaks when the kids can stay up), riding horses.
But what our kids always clamor for: we turn off all the lights (except for a nightlight) and shut the drapes, then play tag. One person is it, and they have to tag players once they are out of a safe zone.
My parents made us memorize poetry growing up. They would choose a classic poem, and we would work on it at FHE or after scripture reading until we had learned it. We had all kinds of fun competitions to see who could memorize it fastest and who could say it perfectly first without making a single mistake. It became a constant thing we did after almost every FHE or family meeting. To this day we all have dozens of poems memorized, and loads of funny memories associated with them.
ReplyDeleteMy mom lives in LA, so most summers we like to go visit her. We've done the magic mountain and Disneyland thing, but what we do the most is just go to the beach. My kids think it's the most fun they've ever had. It takes most of the day and except for parking,(and driving to CA) it's free! We also like to play games,board games, card games, video games. We got a wii from santa this year. It really works for all ages and everyone has a good time. We like to go to the park, fly kites, go hiking. When my kids were younger I got a yearly membership to the zoo. They had so much fun, and by the time we got home, they beat! NAP TIME! As they got older I did a membership to the closest waterpark during the summer. That got pricey so now we have a family membership to the YMCA that has a really nice pool for the kids, and a gym for the adults. We like the library, the used book store, and our family fav...walking around Wal-mart! LOL! Ok, well I'm not sure if any of that helped you at all. But I definately like the idea of getting family memberships to someplace each year because usually you just pay for it once, then the rest of the year you have someplace to take the kids when they get sick of hiking, and other free stuff to do!!
ReplyDeleteWe are a museum family. We love, love, love to go to museums together! Especially here in England were there's so many wonderful houses and places as well. We also love to do picnics and camping... And we're really big on throwing parties where all the kids help cook, set up, decorate, play games and then clean up. We love to do movie nights... where we'll buy a new movie and then make pizza and popcorn and rootbeer floats and watch it. All the kids bring in their pillows and blankets and it's super fun. We also love to do game nights and bowling nights.
ReplyDeleteOur family is massively into board games and card games. We take family game night seriously and take turns picking games to play. I'm the only girl I know who has 3 times as many games in my house as shoes in my closet.
ReplyDeleteMaybe that makes me a fun person. ;)
Every Monday (as part of family night) we do a "talent" portion of the evening. After song and prayer, the children each get to perform a talent before the lesson. It ends up being the funniest part of the evening. Our youngest daughter will sometimes oink/snort a song. Tonight, my second oldest, laid on her stomach and touched her foot to the back of her head. I was pretty impressed. LOL A lot of times they'll sing or play the piano, but they've also danced to hannah montana songs or made sock puppets sing to hannah montana songs. It's great family bonding time.
ReplyDeleteThank you all so much for your great comments! Family time and experiences are so important for the strength and stability of the family. But you already knew that!!! :)
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