37 Family Things to Do at Home on a Rainy Sunday

It occurred to me recently how dependent our family had become on getting out of the house.  While I love playing outside with the kids or taking bike rides on a sunny day, the majority of this time was spent doing “busy work.”  We spend a lot of time in the car driving from place to place, eating at restaurants or my personal favorite (not so much)…shopping!

Even worse, when we do have the opportunity to spend some time at home with our young children, we all too often find ourselves sitting in front of the TV or at best spread around the house doing our own thing.  The kids color, Daddy’s on Facebook and Mommy is fixing a snack.  We are not engaged in our relationships with each other at these times.

A recent Sunday afternoon afforded the opportunity for some reflection.  It was raining, the kids were bored and Mommy and Daddy were quite miserable with a mild case of “cabin fever.”  Now, we know that God proclaimed Sunday as a day of rest, but this seemed ridiculous!  We had become a family that we would quickly criticize if we were judging their actions.  



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Be Consistent with Child Discipline or Be in the Doghouse!

Our family enjoyed a (mostly) relaxing Labor Day weekend spent camping, fishing and visiting with lots of family.  However, due to my own shortcomings, the trip ended on a bit of a sour note that reminded me of the importance of good listening (especially to my dear wife…who will likely read this at some point…did I mention she is beautiful?) and consistency when disciplining our children.

It all started innocently enough.  My son was enjoying some morning fishing time with his Grandpa, and he developed an affinity (okay, maybe borderline obsession) with the plastic “fishy” fishing lures in the tackle box he was supposed to be sitting on.  Don’t worry, these were without hooks so they were mostly safe if you discount their apparent addictive properties.

So, we have a four-year-old boy rapidly “collecting” small plastic fish of a truly alluring variety.  Well, at some point a limit was established and the little guy was mostly okay with his three new pets.  A bit later, he decided he needed just one more fish (or so I thought), a small piece of sparkly gold in his eyes.  



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