What We Do For Family Night – Steps to Successful Together Time

Whenever I share our routine of gathering together as a family and learning from the scriptures, I am asked what we do. As parents, our deepest desires center around giving our children the necessary tools to move throughout life and make sound decisions as well as create bonding, cherished memories together. We have Family Home Evening Nights with those two main goals in mind. I thought with everything going on in the world, now is the perfect time to share how we connect as a family. 

Set the Tone- Hygge is about calm, soft, soothing and comfortable. In other words, hygge promotes an anti-anxiety environment for living and spending time with close friends and loved ones. This is always my goal with my family and the WHY I invest so much time into our home. Our home is a nest and refuge. Our home should reflect the life we are trying to create for those who live there. Turn down the lights, give everyone a cozy blanket, clear the clutter and snuggle up. 

Pick a Time and Stick to it- Do you come to the weekend and wonder where the week went?? Me!!! For us, if we don’t plan ahead and block out time that we will sit down and spend together, the time will easily be spent doing other things, that are likely less important to us, because they came up. Think of your family night as an appointment with your hair stylist or dentist that is booked six months out. You don’t want to miss it.

Put Aside Distractions- Cell phones, televisions, and toys (Finn we make an exception with a little toy- but he can typically sit there if we tickle is back) are always put away before we start. You may consider an “electronics basket” and remember you will have to put your phone aside too!

Keep It Short- A good rule of thumb to gauging how long your family meeting should be is looking at the age of your children. A normal attention span is 3 to 5 minutes per year of a child’s age. Going much longer than what your children can reasonably pay attention to will be a recipe for discouragement. 

Don’t Get Discouraged- By and large, our kids love our family nights together. We made them fun and usually have a treat. While kids will love the extra time and attention they are getting from their parents, they may not be used to the formality of such a meeting. They may get off topic, or not engage. They may complain or argue with one another. Stay upbeat and don’t stop trying just because you’ve had a few less-than-ideal meetings together. 

How We Do it- We do our family night on Mondays in the evening. We set that time aside and don’t plan or schedule other obligations. Our lessons aren’t always formal or well-thought out, but it usually consists of the following main “ingredients.” Biggest tip is to remember that keeping it simple is key to consistency!

1. Prayer
2. Song- (we sing a church song together, or you could play one from the internet to set the tone)
3. Scripture Study
   1. Read verses from scripture
   2. Retell scripture stories that pertain to a topic we are wanting to focus on as a family
   3. Pick a book to study together. Read passages and then pause to retell or check or understanding.
   4. We follow a cirriculum that is distributed from our church. If you are interested in checking out that one, it can be found here. 
4. Discussion/Application
   1. Ask questions to help understand how these lessons fit into their personal life. 
   2. Object lesson to illustrate a topic or bring deeper understanding. 
5. Family/Household Business
   1. What does the calendar look like this week?
   2. Major school projects or assignments?
   3. Sporting events or other things that need to get on the calendar?
6. Something Fun
   1. Treat
   2. Game Together
   3. Dance Party

Print out and laminate our Hygge Family Night HERE

Also if you missed it I created our own “Home School Schedule” to work off of the next couple weeks- Print the PDF Home School Schedule HERE and I have a blank one HERE

Favorite Family Time Activities-

Print the PDF Outdoor Scavenger Hunt HERE

Shuffle Board (you can put this right on a table)//Shut The Box for 4 poeple (we all love this game- and fun that 4 people can play!) //  

Matching Game (love matching games!!) //World Puzzle (such a cute puzzle) // Nerf Gun Family Set (or just get a bunch of Nerf guns to play together)//

Tenzi Dice Game (you all try to roll the same number- everyone likes it!) // Microphone (karaoke anyone??) // Babycakes Maker (my kids love to bake!)

Looking for more ideas to do together as a family or to help distract all that is going on right now? Check out these blog posts today!-

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