13 WAYS TO ADD SPICE TO YOUR FAMILY LIFE
Your life doesn't have to be boring. Your days don't have to be
one monotonous 4-hour period after another. We serve an
infinitely creative God and He placed in you a flicker of the
same creativity that He used to make the universe. Try out some
of these ideas to liven up your family life:
- Create a new dessert. Gather your five favorite sweets, then
begin experimenting to find the best way to combine all five
into one super-duper dessert.
- Use the word "blue" in every conversation. Every time you
talk to someone during the day, try to slip in the word
"blue." See how often you say the word within context. Then
let another family member choose a special word for the next
day.
- Re-name your family members for a day. Let each person
choose the name they wished they had been named at birth.
Call each other these new names all day long.
- Make a tape of your 10 favorite songs. For fun, record an
introduction to each in your best DJ voice.
- Write a new book. Begin by photocopying a page or two from a
children's book. Then, staple a blank sheet of paper in front
of, and in back of, the copy. Now, you and your child write a
new beginning on the front page, and a new ending on the back
page. Read the new story.
- Go somewhere you've never been. For example, you might visit
a comic book store, a pawn shop, a high school track meet, an
ethnic grocery store, or a nearby city.
- Sculpt foil. Give each person several squares of aluminum
foil, then have everyone sculpt something from nature,
something in your house, something to play with, etc. The
best part of foil is that it can be reshaped each time.
- Play a wishing game. Just before bedtime, have each family
member complete the sentence, "If I could find anything under
my bed tomorrow morning, it'd be...." Be sure to check in the
morning.
- Use colored light bulbs for a day. See what life in your
house looks like with different colors in charge.
- Sit in a different pew. Move to the other side of your
church and sit there for the next service. Decide if you want
to sit there from now on.
- Talk in rhyme. During dinner, have everyone talk in rhyme -
for the whole time.
- Change the message on your answering machine. Come up with
something creative. Perhaps you've gone to meet the
president, or you're busy with your Elvis impersonations (or
perhaps you've gone to meet Elvis).
- Change the buttons on the car radio. Clear all the preset
stations and start fresh with stations you don't usually
listen to.
Mike and Amy Nappa live in Loveland, Colo., with
their son Tony. They are also the authors of 52 Fun
Family Prayer Adventures and 52 Fun Family Devotions.
Mike and Amy are the founders of the Christian media
organization, Nappaland Communications, Inc.
Reprinted from Imagine That! by Mike and Amy Nappa.
Copyright (c) 1998 by Augsburg Fortress, Minneapolis,
Minn., 1-800-328-4648.
© 1997 vinebranch@hotmail.com
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