Think for a minute of one of your all-time-favorite memories, the kind that warms your heart and makes you smile spontaneously...
- Who were you with?
- What were you doing?
- What made the memory special?
When was the last time you shared an experience like that with your family?
- Do you have them as often as you'd like?
- Do you have them with each of your children?
- Do you plan them on purpose?
Your list will be unique, but here are a few simple ideas to get you started.
Work Together
- Plant a family garden. Teach your kids how to prepare the food. Enjoy it at family dinner.
- Clean out closets and drawers. Hold a family yard sale and use the proceeds for special family activities. Or share unused items with someone in need.
- Build something. It could be a birdhouse, doghouse, treehouse, or whatever you family might enjoy. This is a great idea whether you make or buy it.
- Paint and decorate a room together.
- Become experts on your hometown, especially the places that are extra fun.
- Hold family seminars. Learn about time management, financial management, etc.
- Learn Spanish or some other language. Speak your new language together at dinner.
- Read a great book together.
- Pack a picnic together and take a family bike ride to a pretty place to enjoy your meal.
- Go camping - even if it’s only in your own back yard.
- Go fishing and have a fish fry.
- Have a friendly marshmallow fight.
- Adopt a Grandma. Be her friend. Include her in family activities.
- Work for a political candidate you believe in.
- Volunteer at a soup kitchen or create a family service project.
- Have a patriotic family sing along. Invite your friends and neighbors.
- Have a candlelight dinner where you talk about your favorite family memories.
- Write your family history, complete with text, pictures, audio and video.
- Choose or create a family song. Use music to a favorite song and write words that fit your family.
- Talk about your hopes and dreams as a family. Create a family mission statement.
