Instead of a New Year's resolution this year, our family is choosing a 365 day challenge. I'd love for each of you to join me on this challenge (Our challenge will run slightly over into 2013 because we're starting today!). There are only two rules to participate in this challenge:
1. Choose one thing you would like for your family to do together for a solid year. (reading, outdoor quality time, cooking together, meditation, exercise, etc.)
2. Do it every single day. No exceptions. No excuses.
This can be anything! It can be something you always said you would do when you had a family, something you need to work on together, something just for fun, or absolutely ANYTHING. The sky is the limit. And, you don't have to have human babies to do this challenge, fur babies count too! It could be taking a family (you, your partner, & your furry friend) walk every evening, rain or shine!
Our family is going to have 30 minutes of family reading together every single night before bed. No exceptions. No excuses. Everyone will get a chance to read aloud (minus the baby and the 4 year old will just be telling us about the pictures). We read to our boys a lot and always at bedtime but not frequently TOGETHER, all six of us, in one room. I think there will be a lot of benefits to doing this challenge for our entire family. Our twins have learned to read and this will encourage them and help them excel. Hudson, our 4 year old, is still working on letter sounds, this will help him learn what letters make the sounds as his older brothers are sounding out words. Evan, the baby, just wants to be with his big brothers every.waking.second.of.the.day. , so this will give him a chance to take part without them telling him no, or saying that he's wrecking everything. :) For Ryan and I, this challenge is most important. It means that we're BOTH stopping everything for 30 minutes and spending quality time with our boys, all of them. 30 minutes probably sounds like nothing to a lot of you, but when you have four "stair step" children, someone requires your attention constantly. There's always something to do, packing lunches, helping with homework, after school activities (ex. sports for our family), changing diapers, doing laundry, cooking meals, cleaning up, bath time (Mommy included), snuggle time for each kid, playtime, and just general self preservation a.k.a personal time! It's a lot to pack into one day, especially when most of that has to happen between the hours of 3:00pm and 7:30pm... when the twins get out of school and when the boys go to bed. 4.5 hours and we're taking 30 minutes of that for reading. I truly hope this is a challenge that we see through to the end and carry into the years to come!
Your challenge doesn't have to be 30 minutes, it could be 5 minutes! The idea is that you're spending quality time together so, it just has to be something you do together as a family.
What challenge will you complete with your family this year?
(Don't be shy, chances are if it's in writing for the world to see you'll really do it!!)
1 comments:
Love your idea of reading every night for 30 minutes. We love to read, too. This year we have made the commitment to try 52 new experiences as a family. It's going to be a great year!
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