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. My parents held family night all my childhood, I have fond memories of those nights and lessons we learned. I know they helped me to be the person I am today. 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.

• Pick a Time and Stick to it- Do you come to the weekend and wonder where the week went?? Me!!! If we don’t plan ahead and block out time that we will sit down and spend together, it won’t happen. We find that everyone is home Sunday nights, so that is when we do our family night. 
• Keep It Short- Short and sweet is our motto! We typically do family night lesson for about 10 minutes. We do a short spiritual lesson, could even be a quote you discuss. After the lesson, we play a game, or go on a walk.
• Don’t Get Discouraged- Our kids love our family nights together, that doesn’t mean it goes perfect. The reward of a treat at the end or a game, does help! While kids will love the extra time and attention they are getting from their parents, they may not be used to the formality of lesson. 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 Sunday, in the evening. 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 curriculum 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

Family Night Resources-

• 52 Modern Manners for Teens– such great books, that you think are basic that things, but it opens up a discussion that you might never have thought to have! This book doesn’t teach old school manners, but the more current, nuanced manners that set people up for fulfillment in relationships, school, work, and life. Things like: Nothing online is private, the way you smell matters, don’t leave just one person out, pitch in, introduce yourself, and so many more.
• 52 Modern Manners for Kids– The perfect guide to help parents proactively teach their kids what to do in difficult, sticky, or emotional situations.
• Youth Magazine (from The Church of Jesus Christ)– we have been using this magazine the past couple weeks for our family night. It is a great resource for Christians, free online or you can order it.
• Friend Magazine (from The Church of Jesus Christ)– Finn loves this magazine, if you have young kids just reading a story out of this magazine is a great family night. There are typically discussion questions too.
• Charlies Monument– my mom read this to us when we were younger, great book to read as a family and discuss! Published originally in 1976, Charlie’s Monument is a much-loved story that has endured to be embraced by succeeding generations of new readers. Adults scorned him, school children jeered him, yet Charlie was determined that his life would amount to something, that he would have not lived in vain. Born with only one arm, a twisted back, and badly deformed legs, and orphaned while still a boy, Charlie also carried with him the legacy of his resolute You can do anything you want if you want it badly enough. 
• The Invisible Boy– Good to remember, that any good book is a great family night lesson! Carlo learns what it feels like to be invisible at school. A discussion page appears at the end of the story to help foster a deeper understanding of the issue of bullying, and to put the story in perspective. 
• Hands on Family Devotionals– As parents hoping to raise godly children, we may understand the importance of regular family devotions. However, we may find it difficult to get our kids (or even ourselves) fully engaged. But what if devotions looked less like sitting in the living room listening to someone read and trying to pry answers out of reluctant kids and more like, say, electrocuting a pickle? Or converting a leaf blower into a toilet paper launcher? Or lighting toothpaste on fire?
• Together Time– This fun, family-time devotional creates opportunities to connect your children, spouse, and loved ones around authentic and thought-provoking Word. Each of the 90 entries includes Scripture, followed by simple yet engaging discussion conversations all on the topic of God’s questions, ideas on how to live out His truth, and a closing prayer of gratitude for His love and acceptance.
• Classic Family Devotions– Many parents are searching for ways to bond as a family while encouraging spiritual growth in their kids. The One Year Classic Family Devotions provides a full year of devotions and activities designed to strengthen family time and deepen spiritual awareness. Each devotion includes a story about children and other family members, fostering personal connection with the content. Lessons come from the child’s perspective at times and from the parents at other times. 

Favorite Games-

• ⭐️Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza– 24,054, 5 star ratings! Fast paced laugh out loud fun for any get together. Takes only a minute to learn and gameplay lasts for about 10 to 15 minutes. Perfect for all-ages, everyone has a good time! We love it, played it a lot at Christmas at all the parties. Must have!
• ⭐️Cover your assets– 10,432, 5 star ratings! Family favorite! We get super competitive with this one. But I love that Finn can play too! Competitive play where the 1st to reach 1M in assets wins. Must have!
• ⭐️Nertz –2,058, 5 star ratings! I grew up playing this but it was called something else. We would get super competitive- so now when I get with my siblings we are even more intense! Watch a quick how-to-play video and, once you get it down, you won’t want t stop!! I think I hold my breath the whole time I play! MUST HAVE!
• ⭐️Skyjo –  8,753, 5 star ratings! Try to get as few points as possible through flipping, trading and collecting cards over the course of several rounds.Educational (counting, estimate and concentration) and lots fun!! Finn loves and plays too!
• ⭐️Phase10– 18,540, 5 star ratings! I played this game growing up and have always loved it! Phase 10 is the Rummy-type card game with a twist! Be the first player to complete 10 varied phases, each phase is specific for each hand, meaning each player must complete one phase before advancing to the next round! Ages 4 and up. Must have!
• ⭐️Left, Center, Right – 24,468, 5 star ratings! LCR Left Center Right is a fun, fast-paced dice game that you won’t be able to put down!  Players roll the dice to determine where they pass their chips. The last player with chips is the winner and wins the center pot. We like to make this game a little more competitive- we use dollar bills as the chips!! Candy would make it a little “extra” too! Must have!
• ⭐️Five Crowns– 15,433, 5 star ratings! I have seen the card game over and over, why did it take me so long to get! We’ve played this all weekend long and love it! Five suited rummy style game with a rotating wild card. Ages 8 and up.
• ⭐️Spoons– 2,725, star ratings! Not going to lie, I’ve played this cards my whole life and we just used regular spoons and a deck of cards! Nice to have a set ready to go, and spoons that you don’t have to wash before you eat next, ha! super fun, easy to learn, highly competitive game! Race to get 4 of a kind and grab a spoon if you want to stay in the game, last player standing wins! Must have!
• Tenzie– 3,467, 5 star ratings! Finn is so funny to play this with! TENZI is a fast, fun dice game that encourages fast reactions and is super easy to learn.
• Uno Flip– 6,373, 5 star ratings! UNO FLIP! is the classic card game you know, now with an exciting new twist! This fun family card game is perfect for adults, teens and kids 7 years old and up.
• Sleeping Queens– 4,966, 5 star ratings! Ok we just ordered this! Lot of recommendations! “Very cute and easy for kids to understand, also teaches math and has strategy. Very fun for the whole family! I would highly recommend!”
• Mexican Train Dominoes– 16,339, 5 star ratings! Educational and exciting for the entire family. Great tool for teaching kids simple matching and math. Just take the game out of the box, read the easy-to-follow instructions and CHOO-CHOO!
• Sequence– 21,090, 5 star ratings! Play a card from your hand, and place a chip on a corresponding space on the game board – when you have five in a row, it’s a SEQUENCE
• Monopoly Deal– 23,059, 5 star rating! Agree Monopoly Game is too long? Me. Then you will like this new game, it is all the fun of the Monopoly in a quick-playing card game.
• Rummikub– 18,533, 5 star rating! Another childhood favorite. We camped ever summer and this was the game we loved to play! Players take turns placing numbered tiles in runs or groups, Rummy style – the first player to use all of their tiles wins. Fast-paced, easy gameplay is ideal for people of different ages to play together. Reinforces STEM skills like sequencing, pattern recognition and planning.
• Racko– 7,567, 5 star ratings! Rack-O was originally released in 1956. Each player is dealt 10 cards. Place cards in your rack in order, slot 50 down to 5. Turn over top card from the stockpile. Continue taking cards in turn, exchanging for cards in your rack. You can go at a slower pace with this game, which can always be a nice change!
• Ticket to Ride– 12,403, 5 star ratings! Ticket to Ride is a cross-country train adventure game in which players collect and play matching train cards to claim railway routes connecting cities through North America! My nephews love this game, its ages 8 and up!
• Pass the Pigs– 5,495, 5 star rating! I think this addicting game is mainly a game of luck! Basically a dice game, with pigs that are weighted and have different values depending on how they land. Each turn involves one player throwing two model pigs, each has a dot on one side. I grew up playing this camping, it always was a lot of fun.
• Skipbo – 13,680, 5 star ratings! Skip-Bo is the ultimate sequencing card game! Players use skill and strategy to create sequencing stacks of cards in ascending order. Just ordered it!
• Telestrations –7,689, 5 star rating! Draw what you see then guess what you saw for hilarious and unpredictable outcomes.
• Qwirkle– 8,444, star ratings! This is a fun game my kids like to play on their own, it can involve a wide range of ages. It only takes a few minutes to explain.