Making Time for Family Memories
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Early in July I tweeted about how much we loved smores after having just gotten home from visiting family and lo and behold the chocolate queen found me and offered our family some smores. Ok, maybe not quite the chocolate queen but a PR rep from Hershey’s is close enough! 🙂 Anyway, when I received the box the kids were around so I quickly stashed it inside the bottom of a kitchen cabinet so they wouldn’t see because I wanted to surprise them……but instead I ended up getting so busy that I forgot. Until the other day when I opened the cabinet and smiled to find a box of smores ingredients in there! I knew exactly what we would do that night!
But for me it wasn’t just about the chocolate or the melting gooey marshmallows, it was the fact that I was so busy that I had forgotten about doing them! I had forgotten to do something fun with my kids! For an entire month in fact! Hershey’s never asked me to write a post, so having this fun wasn’t on my “must remember” list….and it made me sad. Of course we do LOTS of fun things with our kids, but as my boys are heading back to school in just two weeks I realize how big they have gotten. It’s hitting me that I don’t have babies any more….my youngest is starting preschool.
My oldest is starting 1st/2nd grade – I can’t believe it! And I’ve spent my entire summer doing road trips to visit family (which can be fun) or working my tail off blogging instead of stepping back for a little bit and remembering to have smores with my kids. Life is ALWAYS going to be busy, no matter what projects you are working on. But remember to stop for a little while, and often, to enjoy your kids!
So for me – smores that night was about a lot more than just chocolate! It reminded me to unplug everything, leave the phones inside, and just have fun watching my boys giggle as they melted their marshmallows over the fire.
5 TIPS for Making Time for Family Memories
1. Put it on your calendar. Not kidding – sometimes we get so busy that we just don’t even think twice about scheduling in something fun!
2. Make it a weekly family night. During the school year EVERY Friday night is movie night with our kids. We invited the neighborhood and friends over if they want to come but we never miss our Friday night movie night. We set up a projector outside, drag out our blankets and lawn chairs, and know that it’s something our boys look forward to ALL week long!
3. Try something new as a family. Sometimes you just need a new adventure!
4. Turn off your phones and computers. Many times all we need is to just unplug and leave room for a little creativity! Have young kid? Build a fort! Have older kids? Try fishing, geocaching, or even playing Twister!
5. Start a family project. Build something together as a family! A treehouse, an animal pen, a smokehouse, a garden – anything! There are SO many projects that you can do with your family to build memories together!
A special thanks to Hershey’s for helping me create this family memory.
