It’s not the beginning of a new year, but Kevin and I just made a resolution: We have created a monthly Family Night and Date Night, and we are committed to them! No more “We should go out more” or “We should have a Family Night”. We have picked the days for each month, and they are on our calendars!
Why did it take us so long to make Family Night and Date Night a priority? I have no idea. We have always been more spontaneous about taking the kids out, and Date Night? Well, we just fit that in when we could, which was rarely.
Individually, Kevin and I have a few weekly and monthly commitments that are always on our calendars, and nothing interferes with them, except for a serious illness in our family. These are personal commitments that do not include the rest of the family.
After listening to a message from Andy Stanley on time and commitments, I asked myself, “Why on earth are we putting all these other so-called “important” things before our marriage and our family!?!” We can fill our lives with so many “good” things that the truly important things might never happen. What kind of message are we sending to our spouse and children when we get so excited about Girls’ (or Guys’) Night Out, but we don’t give them a special night to look forward to?
So yay for Family Night and Date Night!
Two other things we are doing to make family a priority…
I put a limit of one TV show per day for Caleb and two TV shows per day for Chelsea. My kids have watched way too much TV in their short lives. Chelsea and I had a good conversation recently about how watching too much TV makes your brain turn to mush, but playing and drawing and building and pretending and going to school make your brain strong. She ate it up! We’re two weeks into our new TV policy, and so far so good.
A couple of years ago, Kevin and I promised each other we would sit down and talk for at least 15 minutes as soon as the kids go to bed. We stuck to our “talking time” for a while, and then we drifted away from it. Well, we’re back at it. We’ve put it in its proper place, and I’m so glad we have.
Marriages are crumbling and falling apart all around us, in our church and in our community. Kevin and I have had our share of tests and trials as well. Now is the perfect time to be intentional about strengthening our marriage.
Okay, now I want to hear from you! Do you have a set Family Night and/or Date Night? How often do you have them, and what things do you like to do? How has it improved your marriage and family?
we do have date night! good for you and your family ♥
We had our first Family Night on Saturday night. We had a family picture taken at a park, stopped and got Chic-fil-a for dinner, and then we all piled on the couch and watched the Bee Movie together. Even Piper managed to sit relatively still enough to join us on the couch!
Last year we started “No TV Tuesdays” at our house (although we do “cheat” and use a DVR to record a show or two on Tuesday nights for watching later in the week). It forces the kids to be creative in order to be entertained. We try to play a family board game too.
Kelly and I have 1 date a month. And when our oldest can babysit (soon!) we’ll be able to afford it more often! LOL!
Lisa – We have an at-home date night almost every Friday night. We make microwave popcorn and watch a movie or old TV rerun together. We don’t go out for dates very often, but we guard our home dates fairly well. We do not have a regular scheduled family night, but we do have them periodically, probably a couple times a month. We do a family movie night, game night, or some type of outing. These are fun and wonderful priorities to have and make great memories! Good for you to be thinking this through and planning for it!
Renee
Good for you! Date nights are harder for us with 5 kids…we officially pay a babysitter maybe once every few months, LOL. It’s just so expensive. We’ve been blessed to have parents here a few times a year, so then we get free babysitting!
TV is pretty much non-existent around here except for family movie nights (on Fridays…with homemade pizza), although every now and then I let the kids watch Word Girl on PBS. I’m pretty stingy with screen time. I confess, though, that Kenna (and yes, now even Lucan, sigh) sees a lot more DVDs than her older sibs did. Sometimes I just need that time for the kids to SIT and leave me alone so I can cook or do something in peace! Since we homeschool, I try not to feel too guilty about it!