January 2013 Family Network Challenge and Giveaway!!!

Happy New Year from The Family Network!!!!!

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We are so excited here at The Family Network to have the opportunity to share a fresh new year with you! Encouraging and inspiring others on how to have fun with their family! For the first Family Network Challenge of the year we have something special planned! First of all, we have some fun ideas on how to connect with your family this year. Then we have a giveaway!! We wanted to do something fun for our readers and we have been blessed to put together a fun little package of things to do with your family! To be entered into the drawing, you just need to link up and tell us how you connect with your family... what are some special things you do together?


First.... a preview of the giveaway family fun box!

 Two fun games and a great book, written by one of the bloggers here at The Family Network!







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Now to get on to the serious stuff.... how do you connect with your family? It seems as though these days the world is so busy, we have a hard time finding a moment when we can really sit down and connect with our families. There is after school clubs, soccer games, church activities, and late night meetings for parents who work. One of the best ways to connect with your family is to have a meal together. If you can't sit down every night for dinner as a family, try to pick at least one night a week, or do breakfast instead! It gives us time to slow down, enjoy each other's company, enjoy food, and talk about what is going on in our lives!

There are so many fun ideas on how to connect with your family. Take your kids out on dates! One on one time with a child is a precious gift. Have them choose where to go.. maybe out for hot chocolate or to the park. Take time to listen to every little thing they want to talk about! Give them lots of hugs!

Make a family mailbox. You can use a simple box and then decorate it together as a family. Write each other letters and notes, put them in envelopes then designate someone to be the mailman for that week. This is a really fun way to not only connect with your family, but it fosters great communication skills and helps children with writing!

What about having a family slumber party? You can play games, watch movies, sleep in sleeping bags in the living room ( or camp out in the backyard!) and eat popcorn! Tell stories, share your silliest dream you've ever had, or just talk about life.

Choose a book to read aloud as a family every evening. There are some super fun classic books out there... or you can share one that you loved as a child, and it would be an opportunity to connect with them by sharing something you loved as a child.

In closing, I would like to share a quote from one of my favorite books ever, it is called " 250 Ways to Connect With Your Family" by Melodie Webb.

  " Place the highest priority on home and family. * Let the merits of your family outweigh the merits of the world. Don't be distracted by things that entice but never really satisfy. * Choose to spend quality time with your family rather than with trivial pursuits. * Make choices that allow you more quantity time with your family. * Live so that you won't say at the end of your life, " I wish I had spent more time with my family" * Through your actions, show that they matter most to you. * Live so that people can say of you that you are a "family man" or a "family woman". * Recognize how much your family contributes to your personal success in life. Give them credit for that success. * Verbalize daily in individual and family prayer how grateful you are for your family, and how much you desire to serve them. "

How do you connect with your family? Link up in the linky below and share a fun way that your family connects. This is going to be a great year! It's the year for us to connect with our families, and be the best families possible!!!

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