The Routine of Family Time
My wife and I have six children aged 14 and under. Our house can be super chaotic sometimes. Like way beyond what I ever thought I could handle. Having many children affects many things in life. Just having peace and quiet and order seems impossible most of the time.
The most stressful thing for me has been financial. The number of children you have not only affects your weekly budget but it also affects the size of home and vehicle that we need.
That being what it is there are also some good things from having many children that I never expected.
Among those the best being what I call family time. We always have dinner together but we also have a nightly family time right before bed. During family time we do all or some of the following:
- Read a book to the younger ones.
- Sing several songs about Jesus.
- Dad teaches a quick 5 min lesson about something God is showing him.
- Around the room where everyone or anyone can say or share anything.
- Around the room hot seat, where we all says something nice about the person on the hot seat.
- Pray
Family time can last as long as an hour, typically 8-9pm. Preparing myself and the kids for this time has been one of the best parts of having a large family. It helps to get them in bed by giving us a routine. Family time seems to unite us in ways hard to explain and seal the day off in the minds of everyone. The kids are also learning to speak up in groups and not to just sit and listen all the time. This is important to dad.
I would suggest family time for every family no matter the size. Everyone’s family time will of course look different, ours is loud, chaotic and often full of laughs and sometimes even squabbles.
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