Time
with our families. How hard can that be?
We
probably don’t intend to dash in and out of their lives saying, “Gotta go! See
you later!” We want to create memories with siblings, parents and grandparents.
But life gets in the way.
September
is Intergenerational Month. What a great time to start!
Here
are 15 ideas for family togetherness. Some can take only minutes. Choose one
this week. Be intentional—make it happen.
·
Q&A-with-a-Twist—Ask
foolish questions like these:
o
Do fish get thirsty?
o
How does the snowplow driver get to
work?
o
What would chairs look like if our knees
were in the back?
o
Where does your lap go when you stand
up?
·
Games:
o
Oodles—or other question-asking games.
o
Board Games.
o
Word Games—Scrabble, Bananagrams,
Crosswords.
o
Volley Balloon—for the youngest and the oldest in your family.
o
Hangman (Wheel of Fortune)—can be played
on a napkin at a restaurant while waiting. Someone chooses a word and draws the
correct number of lines. Others guess letters. For each incorrect guess, draw another
piece of the gallows or the unfortunate hangee.
·
Share Interests/Hobbies.
·
Walk: make a
scavenger hunt of views to collect (sunset, catalpa tree, ant, pine needle…).
·
Music: share a
recording, play a song, sing together, or find a youtube video of favorites.
·
Books: read aloud or everyone
read the same book and discuss next time.
·
Movies: take turns
choosing. Create a family review afterward.
·
Take a class together—learn
something new!
·
Cooking/eating: choose
an ingredient. Divide the family for a contest using the featured food. Choose
a theme with decorations, place-cards, and divide duties according to
age/ability.
·
Coded messages: a
way to involve relatives at a distance. Write one coded message per week and
send. Keep it going!
·
Pray together.
·
Worship together.
·
Gardening: big
or small, indoor or outdoor, in-ground or in containers.
·
Teach each other a skill: teach
a family member to knit (or whatever), and he/she teaches you to use an iPad
(or whatever).
·
Family Giving Project: are
there homeless in your community? You might collect food pantry items. Or
personal care items. Join up with others—knit warm hats for shivering school
children.
How
about it? How will you bring the generations together this week?
~+~
Robin
Steinweg finds life sweet in the middle of writing,
speaking, teaching, caring for aging parents and adjusting to having adult
children. She, her husband and family live near Madison, Wisconsin. Her passion
is to help others discover joy in every age of life. On fb—Robin June Steinweg.
5 comments:
Thank you, Robin for sharing such wonderful ideas for togetherness.
Thanks for dropping by Joanie,
I love these ideas. They are also good for youth group or kids club. I can remember several scavenger hunts which were really fun.
I appreciate the encouragement to be intentional with getting the generations together. We've found great success with games. My parents have taught our children tons of card games and board games, and they get everyone spending time around a table together.
I love the list of ideas. The coded message suggestion is clever one. I may try that in the future.
Thanks for reading! Lori, such a great point you made about games and sitting down around the table together. It makes a difference!
Jenny, thanks so much for posting my article!
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