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Family Time

34 "Having dinner together at least twice a week" is all the rage when it comes to advice for families. "Make time for a nutritious breakfast" is the plea to mothers everywhere.

"Read to your child at least 30 minutes a day."

"Get out and play an hour a day."

These are all slogans that are constantly fed to us as our culture has taken a turn for the worse. Since when is it necessary to encourage families to do what should be normal?

So I'm going to throw in my 2 cents (or 3 or 4) for some basic good living practices:

We are raising the next generation. WE are. YOU are. What will you contribute? It starts at home, with some very simple loving, fun, creative family time.

Here are a couple of fun things we like to do:

Recently, we served our dinner buffet style in the kitchen, carried the plates to the table, and had Jenga set up in the center of the table. As we ate our spaghetti, each person took turns at the game. (I did have to wash some of the Jenga blocks after Baby Nathan handled them with his spaghetti hands. But then, I had to wash the whole baby after spaghetti! And the chair, his clothes, the table, the floor . . .)

We also like to play trivia games at the table. We have several different types of quiz cards like American History, science, Bible, etc. and we go around the table quizzing each other on our knowledge of that subject. It keeps the mood light and everyone learns something!

So fry some chicken, mash some taters, go for a walk in the cool fall air and invest in the next generation while making memories that your children will keep forever.

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