Family night has become a forgotten tradition for many people, but the members of some families go out of their way to make certain that their loved ones come together at least once a week to reinforce family ties and enjoy each other’s company. Two of the biggest obstacles that promoters of family night, also known as family game night, face are scheduling the event and getting everyone to participate. If you’re struggling to keep this important tradition alive, try out these four ideas for gathering your crew together.
Make Time for Each Other
Even a small family of two children and two adults often have extremely different schedules and priorities. Given these challenges, you must find a way to arrange a date and time that works for everyone. If you can’t get everyone to provide you with their schedules over the phone or via email, set up a shared online calendar where family members can upload their schedules at their convenience. The calendar can help you see the days where schedule openings overlap. Once you have a date and time in mind and a secondary “rain date,” email everyone or update the shared calendar.
Keep in Touch With Extended Family
Several companies offer free or low-cost services for sending event reminders via email, text and phone. For example, grab the attention of your loved ones by using a telephone service that calls with a reminder from a live agent or a pre-recorded message. When investigating reliable telephone service companies, it’s always a good idea to look for reviews so you know what you’re getting. Some of them, like ACN reviews, can be very helpful in this regard. If you decide to go with a recorded message, remember to make your tone upbeat and express excitement about having an opportunity to spend time with those you might not have seen recently or only briefly see now and then. Additionally, make certain that the telephone service clearly provides the date and time of the event and important individual and group reminders about food or games that people are bringing with them.
Remove All Electronic Distractions
The act of physically turning off electronic distractions, such as TVs, computers and portable devices, might seem like the harshest way by far to bring together people, but a lot of children and adults only reconnect with their loved ones when they are disconnected from their devices. Also, many people spend too much time staring at electronic screens. You are actually helping to protect their health when you force them to interact with others at the event since regular staring at a screen can cause eye strain and TVs and computers promote unhealthy sedentary behavior.
Choose Online Group Options
Of course, if your loved ones are located all over your state, country or the globe, the only way that you might be able to bring them together is through online services like video chat and shared social platform games like the ones found on Facebook. If this is your only option, consider using multiple services to remind everyone of the event and to provide a link to Internet-connected downloadable chat or gaming software or a website where the event will take place. Also, consider using webinar tools designed for business and academic conferences for your family night instead of other options as they can make interaction easier and more pleasant. Keep in mind that it’s critical that you promote positive experiences during family night since negative ones can cause disappointment and lackluster future interest. Everyone should be given the opportunity to have a chance to talk. You should also pick someone to help moderate the event to stop disagreements from becoming arguments.
You don’t need to twist people’s arms to make them come together for family night. You only need to help them find time for it and remember why it’s so important.
