Family Time

I've noticed lately how we as parents get ourselves and children into a slumpy routine. We come home from work, eat dinner, then go our seperate ways for the night.

Tonight I decided we were going to do something different. Something we would stick to and do every night from now on. I discussed with my husband and he agreed, we needed a change. I'll start by explaining our current routine.

We get home at about 5:45 every week night. When we get home, I start cooking dinner, Gabe does whatever yard work needs to be done, and Noah goes to his room and starts watching movies. When dinner is ready I make the plates, take Noah's to him in his room and Gabe and I sit in the living room and watch TV while eating. Then when we are done eating I either go to my craft room or get on the computer, Gabe continues to watch TV and Noah continues to watch his movies. Then when it's time, we go to bed.

Horrible right??? So tonight we started our new routine. When we got home, I sat Noah down to explain to him what we were going to do. He loves watching TV and eating in his room, so I was afraid he'd really have a hard time with this.

I told him," Bubby, tonight we are going to clean up the house a little bit and put our toys, and clothes away, then mommy is going to make dinner so we can eat at the table and visit. While mommy is cooking we can play games and read books, or play with puzzles, we can do whatever you wanted to do. Then at 8pm we can watch TV. How does that sound?" After explaining this rather lengthy scenario to a 3 yr old, I was afraid it wouldn't soak in...however this is his response " Yeah mommy! Lets put my toys away in my room then we can play with puzzles!!" He was so excited and I couldn't have been more happy!

He was such a good boy! He look his shoes and toys that were in the living room and took them to his bedroom and put them away! I loaded up the dishwasher and the washing machine. Then while the oven was preheating, I went into Noah's room and asked him what he wanted to play. His choice was cars! So we got on the floor and crawled around in his room pushing cars. Then we started playing basketball. Daddy came in there at that time and started playing too. So I went in and finished up dinner and folded and put away the clothes. When they were done playing basketball they came into the living room and put together some puzzles on the floor. Then we ate dinner at the table. By the time we were done eating, it was 8pm! Guess what...time to watch TV!

It was a great night and I was so happy that it went so well. I think that we as parents loose sight of what is REALLY important to our children. That's our love and attention. As my mother n law always says, Time is the most precious gift you can give, and once you lose it, you can never get it back. So spend less time watching TV, or reading or playing on the computer, and spend more w/ your children. Teach them something new, read them a book, crawl around on the floor pushing cars! Those are the things they will always remember!