Welcome to Friday Family Fun Night!

Today is our first Friday Family Fun Night post! I am really excited about this because I know that I really love to learn from others and coming up with fun and interesting things to do for family night gets harder and harder sometimes! In our home we try to do a weekly family night with our kids. I say we try because we are definitely not perfect in doing this. I have my weeks where it's just too much "work" to get together something to do. Or if the kids have been bickering and fighting all day the last thing in the world that I want to do is listen to them bicker and fight all through family night, so I have been known to cancel it (although my husband doesn't agree with doing this so I might have to reconsider this in the future :P )

So, for our first Friday Family Fun Night post what I want to know from you is: 1) Do you currently hold a weekly family night with your family? And if you do, do you follow a regular schedule? Do you have it on a certain day of the week? Do you follow a certain format (ie, open with a song and a prayer and a scripture, do you light a family candle? Do you have a lesson and an activity? Or do you have family game night or a family outing?

And 2) If you don't currently hold a family night with your family what would you want it to look like if you started? Is there any particular reason that you want to start having a regular family night? What are some of the things that you are hoping to teach your children during these special times together?

So, as for our family, we try to do family night every Thursday night. And we kind of go back and forth with our "routine" of how we do things. Some weeks we know that there is something we want to have a lesson on. For example, lately we've been having problems with hitting and name calling, so for next week I'm planning a lesson on showing love in our home and how hurtful things like hitting and name calling are to the love and spirit of our home. Then there are weeks when I just want to to do something fun. For example, this weekend is going to be a CRAZY weekend, so I just wanted to spend some time with my husband and my kids before we were all pulled a million different directions. So we went out to eat at Frisch's Big Boy and then went to the park to run around on the play equipment and swing on the swings. It was a lot of fun, and we got through the whole evening with almost no fighting (which is a HUGE accomplishment!!!)

Those weeks where we do have a lesson planned we follow an outline...To begin we light a family candle that we made at a family night a while back. Then we open with a prayer, a song and a scripture reading that goes along with the topic that we are discussing. We usually try to keep the lesson short (10-15 minutes at the absolute max, but our kids are 5, 3 and 9 months so attention spans are very short!!!) After the lesson I try to have a craft or a game that we can play to try to reinforce what we were learning and then we close with a prayer, and the kids' favorite, a snack!

So this is our first link up. In the weeks to come I hope to  have posts with activities for certain holidays or special events, just "regular" ideas for those "ordinary" times and I really help that we can help each brainstorm and become each others accountability in this area of our lives.

Please note: While having a regular family night is a premise for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, you do not need to be Mormon to participate in this meme. Other religions (and non-religious organizations) also see the importance in having a regular time that we spend together with our families. Do not feel the need to edit your posts or lessons because you think you will offend someone. That you are teaching your children your values and what is important to you is the most important thing. Another thing to remember is that couples without children (either who have not yet had any, or whose children have all grown up) are still a family. You can do things with your spouse to help keep your special relationship with each other strong. So feel free to link up too, you may help another couple out there find fun things to do!

OK...it's time to link up! I am so excited!! And I can't wait to see what we can share with each during this journey!