5 Things that Would Make Our Family Better

As I’m thinking through goals for the new year, I’m not only making personal resolutions, but am also considering ways to improve our family life going forward. To that end, and to solicit feedback, I’m pulling out a printable list I’ have the fill out in’ve had family members fill out in the past whenever we need a little reset. It’s titled “5 Things that would make our family better.”

I suspect this year’s responses will look a lot like those I’ve gotten in the past. Here are a few things that made our compiled lists:

Things to Make our Family Better:

1. More Consistent Meal Times

We’ve been so busy of late that we all seem to be eating at different times of day and miss sitting down to meals together, asking God to bless the food, and enjoying some stimulating dinnertime discussions.

2. Reinstate Family Story Time

Our read aloud times in the evening have almost completely fallen by the wayside over the past few months, as well, so we want to get back to consistently having story time every night before bed.

3. Exercise Together

One of our sons suggested we jog together several times a week. Which is a good idea, especially considering the fact we’ve all signed up to run a half-marathon together in February!

4. Spend Time Outdoors

I’m not sure whether any of us will make it to 1000 hours outside in a year’s time — as is such a popular goal for families these days, but my recent bloodwork showed a vitamin D deficit, so increasing my sun exposure will be just what the doctor ordered.

5. Build Lego Together

When I asked my youngest son what he thought would make family life better in the coming year, he suggested we all work together to build a different big, fancy, expensive lego set every month… then give it to him once we’ve finished! I don’t know that we’ll make that a monthly tradition, but I think we’ll try to honor his request at least once or twice.