Sunday's at the Hutton's

Playin' Texas Holdem'.
Yes we are playing poker with our kids on Sunday night.   Tim has begun volunteering at the Veteran's Home down the street and the primary activity he can help out with is playing games with the gentlemen who live there.  We are using our homeschool time and family time to teach him (and the other 2 big kids) to play various card games.  Believe it or not we are also teaching Tim to serve.  Along with the rules of the games and critical thinking, strategy and fun we focus on courtesy, polite conversation and the little things that make a good winner/loser.
Playing board games, dice and card games has become one of our favorite ways to spend time together, even me, who is usually the one to poo-poo the idea, I have begun to enjoy our family game times.  We have even started to bring cards and dice to the restaraunt and the little girls can help an older child or parent, it keeps our attention and focuses our conversation with the family working on various opportunities to teach manners.
We also love having other families over or even couples without kids to play board games etc.  Sometimes those families teach us new games or visa versa but it is a great way to get to know each other.  The kids get to learn how to behave while conversing with adults.  It is also a way to move conversations from the silly to thoughtful, from encouraging to teaching moments for all.

So what have we learned from this that we might pass on...

If you don't spend a lot of time with the whole family or have a reason to invite other families over, you may want to consider having a regular family game night each week.  Use the Sabbath, Sunday for family time playing board games etc., bond with the kids and the kids to each other by having everyone focus their time on one activity.  Think about conversation starters, look for opportunities to see character issues in your children (and yourself) that you can direct gentle leading towards correction.  Issues like arguing between siblings, impatience with others taking turns, offering unwanted advice, raising voices, sneaky peaking (at cards), talking ALL THE TIME!,  and other behaviors that would be considered rude if an adult did them. (These are all things our family constantly needs to work on...) Be creative with your solutions to these issues.  Discuss courtesy to your neighbor, fair play, Love your neighbor as yourself, offer encouragement for appropriate behavior.  Think about seating arrangements, what are the things that trigger the behavior issues and plan accordingly.  Offer alternative responses to arguments, maybe the talkative child does not know how much they talk, gently mention this and speak to them about the fruits of the spirit including self control, give them gentle signals that they are talking to much and they should give someone else a turn.
Lastly, this beginning training phase can be very frustrating, noisy and you may come away feeling exhausted but don't give up.  Keep having the game nights, decide to enjoy your family and encourage each other to participate.  Pray for transformation in you and your children as you commit time to developing good communication skills and manners in your family.    You will reap what you sew if you do not give up, good fruit will come from your efforts.  It certainly has made a difference for us and we have had a blast at the same time...God bless you all!!