Our Recent Sunday Evenings: New Rhythms

For many years Sunday evenings were packed with things to do to get ready for the week. I was usually exhausted and needed to get things in order so Brent would take the boys out to a park or play with them in the yard. I would stay home and miss out on family time, but it was what I needed during that season.

Recently we have been working on Saturday to get all our weekend tasks completed and prepare for the upcoming week so that our Sundays are free. We try to have our schedule cleared so that we can practice the Sabbath, a day of rest. We usually go to church, eat lunch out when possible, then come home and all take a nap. Our family needs a lot of sleep and most of the time we are all ready for the nap. For dinner Sunday evenings we usually eat left overs and use paper plates, it’s so nice to not have to cook or do the dishes. After dinner is where we have recently added a new rhythm.

We have started taking turns choosing the Sunday evening activity and we all participate. No staying home for me. It is something I really look forward to. No rush, no pressure, just time together as a family doing something one of us enjoys.

We set a few boundaries: No screens. It needs to bee free or cost very little. Just our family.

Here are some of our recent Sunday evening activities:

• Play a board game together. We’ve enjoyed this one. – Grant’s Idea
• Go to a new grocery store and each buy an item under $2. – Brent’s idea
• Visit a coffee shop and learn how to fold origami (Dean taught us). – Dean’s idea
• Drive to an overlook and watch the sunset together. – Franci’s idea
• Go to a local park to play soccer or basketball. Horse (or Pig) is something we usually play. – Grant and Dean’s idea
• Take the light rail (above ground subway) into a new part of the city and explore. – Franci’s idea
• Each find a book to read and sit in the living room reading for a quiet evening. – Brent’s idea
• We made homemade suckers with this box kit. The kit was a birthday gift for Dean and we finally got around to doing it. – Dean’s idea
• Make cookies and play Catan. We love the Catan board game but since we had limited space in our luggage when moving to the Philippines we bought this dice game version and enjoy playing it. – Grant’s idea
• Go for a family swim at the neighborhood pool. We did this in January, an advantage due to us living in the tropics. A great way to beat the heat! – Brent’s idea

It’s nice that one person is not always having to come up with the plan. I love getting to know each family member more by learning what activity they pick for us to do as a family. They get to pick whatever they want within the boundaries. The ideas may seem simple, but when we spend time together the activity becomes less important– it’s more about the connection as a family.

If you are longing for more connection with your family I would encourage you to try this rhythm.

You may also like friendly family competition or introducing kids to coffee shop culture.

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