- 2x per month take time to focus on Recreation & Relation with your family.
- 1x per week eat dinner together
- Always ask yourself the questions:
What are we re-creating during the activity?
What relationships are being built?
What is your Favorite Family Activity or game?
Tells your favorite family experience.
9 comments:
My favorite family activity is anything we are doing as a family that lets us play and laugh together. Last Christmas we just spent the day hanging out and laughing as Randy and the boys played tennis on the Wii. He hit Wyatt in the head a couple of times as he concentrated on hitting the ball instead of on where people were standing. Wyatt decided Grandpa needs to get the Nerf tennis racquet attachment before he plays tennis again. We laughed so hard we were crying by the end of the game. That is the kind of times with family that are memorable . . . times of just hanging out together and playing whether inside or outside.
As a child we didn’t play many games together as a family. My mom didn’t like to play board games because she couldn’t get the knack or purpose of them therefore, she couldn’t win and so we didn’t play many games when I was growing up. When I married Randy, his family liked to play card games like Pinochle and Poker. I learned to play with them. When our kids were in High School the youth director liked to play Hearts so we would play that once in a while. That it when I learned that my Dad liked to play Hearts and was really quite good at counting cards and stuff. That was fine until we tried to play UNO with him and he was trying to count cards. That made the game quite slow. We seem to go through phases with games depending on the interest of the family. Right now the ones we play the most often with our grandsons is Battleship and a marble board game called Aggravation. I understand it is similar to Sorry. Before Aggravation we played a domino game called Mexican Train a lot, only our grandsons call it Hobo Train. With our younger grandkids we play concentration and put puzzles together. When it is just Randy and I playing games we like to play Backgammon.
If I had to pick my favorite family activity, I would have to say spending the day at Disneyland. Living in the Ranchos has made that a bit more challenging then our days in The OC. I now fall back on a reliable stand by...Mimi's Cafe!!! The "I Spy" on the kids menu is great. We break into teams and race to see who can find all the items first. The winning team gets a bonus if they can complete the list before the food arrives. It's not quite the Tower of Terror but it is way more rewarding. I love just sitting and being with Charity and the kids. We are all on the go so much that taking the time to just breath and play is awesome. Silly games at home also work. Connect 4 and Stratego are long time Bronkowski traditions. I had an "interesting" childhood, filled with "interesting" times but I can look back on it foundly in part because of playing these two games. I get a kick out of passing on the tradition and some of the good memories to my kids. The days where I stop and appreciate my relationships are always the best. I wish I would have not missed out on so many days...I pray that I won't miss out on anymore!
the first and fondest memories i have of my family center around playing games. i remember being very young, at home with only mom. i had a platic cowboy fort complete with cowboys and horses. i also had a full set of indians. my memories are of my mom and i sitting on the floor of the living room while everyone else was gone playing cowboys and indians. i loved those days, and i still love those memories. i also remember eating together as a family very regularly, more often than not. we had to stay at the table until the entire family was done eating, then we had to ask, 'may i please be excused' to get up and leave the table (after helping to clear it and put things away).
it is not surprising then the things i enjoy most about my family is playing games with them and eating dinner together, at the table, as a family. our favorite games are anything from "cranium" or and one of the "uno" card games. we also love going on walks together, or going to the lake as a family during the summer. we make time to play with each other and laugh together. i am learning to let the kids win too... it makes is much more fun for them. my family loves being together and we are each others best friends.
we did something we've never done before together-bowling! what great fun! boy am I rusty! We all had fun and got a bit of exercise too! though the price is a bit higher from what I remember! It was so much fun though, the kids will remember it for a long time.
Vicki
Well, I know we are supposed to write about the fun family nights we have had but I thought I'd throw one in just as a precautiuon to those who are hoodwinked by the family fun night which would include the board game SORRY! The Ahart family read the box which guaranteed a "fun family night" Jack & I and the 4 kiddos set up the table to play -our youngest Joie was on Jack's lap and then Jenna was on mine (there are only 4 players) We explained how the game was played and started in. Well, by the 5th time one of the kids knocked another back to the home setting- the tears started flowing. The yelling started - don't knock me out- That's not fair-bla, bla, bla. I think after one of the kids threw their little pegs we had all of the Ahart's retire to their rooms for a much needed time out! For us & them. Jack & I just sat there shaking our heads and decided to lock that game up or pass it to an unknowing family! We have yet to try that "fun family night" SORRY game option since- we will stick to outdoor wiffle ball - we have the most fun with that and it rarely causes tears for all of us :)
Gerri Ahart
Some of my fondest memories from my childhood center around being outside with my family. I was raised on a farm, and wasn't allowed to watch much TV. So, what do you do on a farm with four other siblings? You play outside! We would ride bikes until dark, swim in the canal, play cowboys and indians (w/real BB guns!), play in the barn, climb the haystacks and more. We also used to camp a lot. Thankfully, Kevin was raised in a similar manner. We both love being outside and so to pass on this love, we play outside with our kids a lot. Swimming, sprinklers, waterslide, biking, softball, soccer, you name it...anything to get outside. Turn off the TV, turn off the computer and get outside!
i spent the last couple days in dallas, tx doing training for a church planter we are supporting (flipside texas, that's pretty cool). my family usually plays board games together weekly so doing it again isn't a big deal, it's part of what we do as a family and it builds great memories (usually). last night my boys asked if we could play a game and of course shel and i said "absolutely". they brought out the "sorry" board game, disney edition... shel and i had read geri's blog... we knew we were in for a "treat". all i can say is that the game started off looking great for me. i had multiple players (i was the disney 'evil' characters) half way around the board within the first couple turns. everyone else was stuck in the start position. suddenly, without showing any love or concern for dear ol' dad who just returend from dallas, they all got "sorry" cards, took my spot on the board, and sent my characters back to start. i was floored... no love for daddy! the boys were laughing with evil glee, shellie was thrilled because she was in first place and eventually won the game. everyone finished the game and i wasn't even half way around the board. when i was young i loved playing the game. now... not so much. there is no love in the sorry game... don't expect any... don't give any... sorry :) serioiusly, we had a great time just playing a game as a family. it was fun. tonight is date night. i'm excited to spend some time with shel. life gets very busy doing 'important' stuff, even doing a lot of things with the kids. however, it is increasingly difficult to make time away from all things work, volunteering, and children so that mom and dad can 'date'. dating is an important part of marriage and i'm looking forward to taking shel out tonight. i am also thankful for flipside church that provides opportunities for husband/wife to date each other while the church provides quality child care. thanks flipside.
last night we went out to tappen yaki with a group of people for date night. it was wonderful to have the church watch the kids for us. our high school son was part of the ones providing childcare. before we left for our date i heard joe (our high schooler) praying over dinner with our little ones (kaleb and wyatt). he was praying that "mommy and daddy would have a good time on their date". the thing i found significant is that my boys are hearing and seeing the importance of husband and wife dating, the significance of it, and hopefully they are understanding that dating is something you still do after you are married. i know that they will feel more secure about their lives as they feel the security of our marriage. we had a great time on our date; talking, joking, eating with other people. then we headed back to our house for some games together. it was a lot of fun! we all need to do it more often.
We decided to play a double feature of Yahtzee and Disney Sorry the other night. Charity and I got schooled by Michael and Bradyn. We played 2 games of Yahtzee and 1 of Sorry. I know I came in dead last twice and I believe Charity came in last the other. Michael and Bradyn took turns winning and coming in second. They were thrilled. The great part was we did not need to let them win because if you have ever played either game you know they take absolutely no skill. At least that is what I am convincing myself of after a night of getting it handed to me. I am just thankful that God gavce us some R&R.
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