How many summers have ended with regrets over what we didn’t do? While we were gorging ourselves on popsicles and spending hours in the pool … summer slipped through our sun-screen covered fingers. Before you know it, you’ll be buying the box of 500 sandwich bags and getting back in the lunch box assembly line with vague memories of these crazy, lazy days of summer. Or maybe you’re in the crazy and longing for the lazy. STOP! It’s half-time! While it’s still hot and hazy, you can take a break and teach your children a valuable lesson at the same time: life is better when we evaluate.
We have to be taught to stop and contemplate how we’re doing in life. Consideration of how we’re spending our time, energy, and opportunity doesn’t come naturally, “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom,” (Psalm 90:12). We often fill our summers with a fantastic frenzy of joys like Vacation Bible School, road trips, sleep overs, pool days and picnics. Throw in a late night of fireworks and dance around in the wet grass in bare feet, and it’s no wonder we have no recollection of where summer went. It was all so wonderful that it went by faster than a watermelon seed through wet cheeks.
Half-time Family Summer Meeting
Before July goes the way of June, make a family date, an official date, to stop and talk about how summer is unfolding. You don’t have to let is slip through your family life like a lightning bug slips through hopeful hands. Think of it as “Half-time for SUMMER!” Use the two Conversation Cards below to chat with your fam about how you’re doing making memories for Summer of 2013 you can smile about.
- Plan a special family dinner (cookouts are totally appropriate here)
- Make homemade ice cream for the occasion (after all, it should be fun)
- Get pizza and take it to the park (no forks required)
Family Conversation Cards: SUMMER
The setting is up to you. Here are 10 questions, 5 to celebrate and 5 to plan, to help you talk about where you’ve been and where you’re going. Print them off and have a family meeting (summer style, of course) to make the most of what remains of this season.
CLICK ON Conversation-Card-11 to DOWNLOAD for FREE
CLICK ON Conversation Card #2 to DOWNLOAD for FREE
With our oldest child heading off to college in just 36 days … I am doing a lot of numbering of our days. Summer won’t stop for us. There’s no lifeguard to blow the whistle and force us out of the fun to take a break, sit and rest, and check the clock. Show your children how to step out and take a look while there’s still time, and you will have pages of sweet memories in this summer album.
What’s one change you think you might need to make to your summer routine while you still have time?
By Julie Sanders of Come Have a Peace
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