Putting FAMILY Back in Family (iCandi Challenge of the Month)

What happened to the “Good Times” days? When fathers were fathers, mothers were mothers, and they enjoyed spending time with their families. Yes, dad worked hard and was busy and tired, but he made time for his family. They might not have had a lot financially, but they were a family. They were a unit.

I really miss the days when it was considered “cool” to be a family. These days people are much too concerned with “doing them” or fitting a certain “baller” image that their families are being neglected. It’s sad and its time we step our games up. Our children are depending on us. The first few years of their lives are the most influential and if you’re too busy “doing you”, you are causing harm to your child.

This month the iCandi Challenge is all about family! I challenge you to skip the club, skip the shopping spree with the girl (yes, this one will be hard for me too), DVR that new episode of Scandal or the last Lakers game, and spend time with your families. I know a few people are going to break out the excuse, “I don’t have the extra money” or “There is nothing to do for children in my city.” NO MORE EXCUSES! I have several great family friendly activities for you to try out.

Do me a favor and select three of them and test them out with your families. Write me and share your stories of how things went. If you have access to a camera, send me pics! Now enjoy yourselves and love on your family while you have them. I DARE YA!

1. Read books as a family. Depending on how old your child(ren) is, this can be a fun activity. Read the smaller ones a bedtime story every night as a family and have the older ones read to you. Educational fun!

2. Hug each other 5 times a day! Yes, everyone in the household gets 5 hugs a day. This teaches love and affection to children. They love it no matter how hard they try to fight it.

3. Family dinner TOGETHER!! I’m not talking Hot Pockets and TV. I mean a good old fashioned family home cooked meal and sitting at the table eating together!!!

4. Family karaoke is always fun! Doesn’t matter if you can sing or not the objective is fun! You can find a local place that has family karaoke nights or have it in your own living room. It doesn’t matter just have fun with it.

5. A family that prays together stays together! Have a family prayer circle. Hold hands and pray together. Take all the family problems and give them to God. Celebrate the blessings and thank God, together as a family.

6. “Movie Night” with the family! I’m not sure about your city but in mine (Cincinnati) we have a couple of movie theaters that have $2 day. So if you have a large family this is very friendly on the pockets. Or you can always have movie night at home.

7. I scream you scream, we all scream for ice cream! I’m not sure about you, but my daughter loves ice cream! We have a lot of make your own sundae moments at home and she loves it. So grab your favorite ice cream flavors and toppings and enjoy! This also works for cupcakes and cookie making as well.

8. Game Night! This was always a family favorite for me. My family was known to play Monopoly, Uno, and my great grandmother’s favorite Scrabble (I always lost that one, lol) . Nowadays we have the Wii, Playstation, & XBox but it doesn’t matter as long as your family is spending time together and having fun.

Write and send pictures to MsiCandi at iCandipro@gmail.com or send them to our website at www.icandipro.com