Once a week, our family dedicates one night to strengthening our faith and our bond as a family. Every Monday we gather as a family and sing a hymn, have a prayer, and discuss a gospel topic. Sometimes we’ll tell scripture stories. Sometimes we act out different scenarios (like how to sit quietly during church or what to do if you see someone being bullied). We’ve even pulled out dinosaur and unicorn toys to demonstrate the necessity for keeping commandments and following rules. (It’s a long story…) We sometimes have an activity – anything ranging from playing freeze tag to having a dance party to racing zucchini boats on the river. Taking a walk to the local ice cream shop is a favorite because it counts as activity and treat in one. And yes, there has to be a treat! 😉
There are a few different elements to our family night and we make it as long or short as needed based on our time constraints and the attention spans of our kids. The important part is being together as a family, unplugged, and learning more about each other and faith.
Every member of our family is in charge of a different portion of the evening. Because we do this on a weekly basis, we have to have some way to remember who is in charge of which activity, and then rotate.
Recently I was able to visit my sister, who had a genius idea for keeping track of everyone’s assignment. She had a framed picture with everyone’s assignment written in dry erase marker – right on the glass!
I decided that’s what I would do. Not only would I do it for MY family, I’d make a free printable for YOUR family.
Click here for a Family Night chart free printable – it’s a FREE PDF! Print it off on regular 8.5×11 paper. You can laminate it and put it on the fridge, or you can frame it and set it on the piano. Use a dry erase marker to write in everyone’s assignments. At the end of family night, erase the names and rotate them down.
What do you like to do to strengthen your bond as a family?