Family Night

It was a friend of mine who first introduced me to the idea of family night. For some reason it really intrigued me. Why weren’t we having family night? What kind of family doesn’t have a family night? The very words rang of togetherness and connectedness. I think it really stuck with me because we always seem to be so busy and while we’re most often all together, it usually also involves friends or family or two people doing one thing and the rest doing another.

Family night is a night where everyone has to be home, no one is invited over and we all do something together.  We always have it on the same night and we choose a day during the week.  Weekends are just too busy and there are too many chances it could be interrupted by other plans.  It is such a simple idea but it always seems to resonate with people, as it did with me, when I tell them about it.    

Family night could really be called movie night at our house as that has become our chosen activity.  It`s like a family night for lazy people. We order pizza for dinner and we eat it early.  I mean, we’re done eating by 5:30 at the latest.  This ensures plenty of time to watch the movie and still get the kids to bed at a decent time.

Family night just feels good.  The kids look so forward to it and we know we’ve made them feel special just by being with them and only them.  Now, Eric and I have been known to doze off during the movie but unless he starts snoring the kids are none the wiser.  Having Chloe around has added another element to our night but we usually just let her throw popcorn around to entertain herself.

As the kids get older, I would like to see family night evolve a little. Maybe we could play board games, go out to dinner, see a movie at the theatre or take in something cultural. But for now, while family outings can quickly turn disastrous, movies at home are just right for our family night.