newspaper

Reading a news article together and discussing it as a family is a great way to spend some time as a family. You can find anything that would capture the interest of your family, whether young or old. Finding something to stimulate conversation will help build family ties, know what each other is thinking and feeling, and keeps communication lines open. It can help jump start a conversation about serious social issues, can help come up with ideas for other family activities and can help language and social debate skills. This can be done over dinner or in the car or sitting at home. It is a great way to learn more about each other and grow together as a family.

personal inventory

This year is the first in many that my husband has been around for New Year's Eve and able to enjoy New Year's Day with us. We tried something new this year-a personal inventory. This will be an activity for families with older kids to try. I made up a booklet of some things I wanted our family to think about, how their spiritual life was moving, how we spend our time, etc. We sat together and filled out the packet then discussed the things that we felt comfortable discussing. We helped each other with ideas and talked about ways to hold each other accountable in the future. We finished up by each getting a personal prayer packet filled with questions to ask ourselves and pray over. This is an excellent way for families to begin a new year.