A New Family Tradition

Have a Family Night once a week.
I read this idea in a Christian parenting magazine called ParentLife,
but I have added to the list of activities with ideas of my own,
many of which our family has done.
ParentLife has loads of good ideas every month, but this is one of the best.
Family Night activities help strengthen family togetherness.

1. Make the activities age-appropriate.
Provide activities that invite everyone's participation.
Activities must be meaningful for the children. Don't judge
the activity by adult standards.

2. Plan the night for the same time each week and protect it.
No phone, no TV, no visitors unless planned for as part of your
activity for the week. If interrupted by a phone call, kindly
explain your family night philosophy of no interruptions and
suggest an alternative time to call.

3. Involve older children in helping younger ones.
This will foster the older child's sense of independence,
responsibility, and achievement. It will also enhance the
younger child's respect for the older sibling.

4. Provide variety and balance in your weekly activities.
Plan in advance; spontaneous activities are all right
once in a while, but your children will be reassured
if you have everything planned out, even if they don't
know the plan in advance.
Use seasonal emphases or build on a teaching opportunity which
arose earlier in the week or month. Don't make each week a
family video night or the regular bowling night, etc.
Some activities can be repeated and probably should be, but
the night will lose some of its special flavor if each week is
simply a repeat of the weeks before.

5. Limit your outside commitments to store up energy for your family.
This time in the life of your family is a brief one, but your parenting
efforts in the future will be built on the foundations you lay while
your children are small. This is the only time your children will be
young and the impressions they form now of the importance of family
and commitment will be the ones they will build their own families on
in the future.

Family Night Activity Ideas

Family night activities should be planned ahead of time.
Plan to spend about 2 hours on your activity. This can be
adjusted to the needs of your individual family. The more
activities you can do about a subject will help reinforce
your message to your children.

  1. Read children's books on different subjects and discuss them.
  2. Read several children's books about one subject and then draw
    pictures about the subject.
  3. Go bike riding.
  4. Create new games or play the ones you already have.
  5. Make gifts for each other or for grandparents, cousins, or friends.
  6. Go on a scavenger hunt.
  7. Take a walk and collect trash in your neighborhood.
  8. Turn off the lights or go outside and play with glow sticks.
  9. Go to the library.
  10. Make your own home video.
  11. Go to the park.
  12. Go bowling.
  13. Play miniature golf.
  14. Play laser tag.
  15. Ride go-carts.
  16. NEW IDEA: for teens Watch a documentary on PBS or the History channel and discuss it.
  17. Take a walk and talk to neighbors in your neighborhood.
    Older people especially like to sit on their porches in nice weather
    and most would love to have someone stop and chat.
    It's good to have your children interact with older people
    in this sort of controlled environment.
    If your neighborhood (or the weather) isn't conducive to this
    sort of activity, visit a local nursing home instead.
  18. Have a family slumber party, complete with snacks, games, movies, etc.
  19. Enjoy a craft project.
  20. Clean closets and donate unused clothing and toys to charity.
  21. Visit the zoo.
  22. Visit the children's museum.
  23. Investigate the attic and the memories stored there.
  24. Wash the car.
  25. Make a family scrapbook.
  26. Go to the airport and watch airplanes taking off and landing.
  27. Get out family photo albums or baby books and look at them.
  28. Visit a nursing home.
  29. Have a fire drill.
  30. Plan a vacation trip - real or fantasy.
  31. NEW IDEA: for teens Have a yard sale and take a family outing with the profits.
  32. Make ice cream sundaes.
  33. Call grandparents, aunts, or uncles who live far away.
  34. Make a wallhanging by outlining each family member's hands with fabric
    paint on a man's handkerchief. Sew the handkerchiefs together
    or use a fabric glue or iron-on bonding to attach them
    to a large piece of fabric for hanging.
  35. Have a puppet show.
  36. Play make-believe games like knights, pirates, spies, cowboys,
    policemen, soldiers, tea party, princesses, dress-up, house, space invaders, etc.
  37. NEW IDEA: for teens Have a video game tournament.
  38. Decorate the house for an upcoming holiday.
  39. Invite a special guest for dinner. (A missionary, a retired favorite teacher,
    a friend who grew up in another country)

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