It was Friday night, again, and we were all at odds for what to do together. Most of us were exhausted, but of course, knew we “should” spend time doing something else. Of course, with a teenager (or even a toddler), heading out to do something on a Friday night seemed a step above Hell.
You know what I’m saying.
So, what do we do?
Instead of everyone vegging out on their phones, we took a simple next step. We knew we had to create more teamwork in our home. Fighting over what to do on a Friday night wasn’t going to create it, so we needed to stat.
Enter the Family Night Jar.
First, I had to get everyone on board. Between a teenager and a hubby who works a lot – I knew this was going to be a challenge. So, I pitched the idea in the car as we were driving, with the teen in tow, to Target one night.
“If you could do anything on a Friday night…what would it be?”
Of course, there were the outlandish ideas like go to Disneyland, or the moon. Then, as we continued brainstorming, the teen actually had some excellent ideas.
Pro-tip: If you can’t get your teen to talk, always drive them somewhere, preferably somewhere they want to go…
As soon as I got home, I grabbed a jar and some post-it notes.
The Family Night Jar was born.
What you need:
- Jar or cup
- Post its (regular size cut into strips)
- A warmed up audience…have them brainstorm before the event.
Grab everyone’s ideas as you go, or have them write down their own. If they are totally struggling to come up with some ideas, pitch a few silly ones first to get the mood going. Tell them, your ideas are going to fill up the entire jar so if they want a say…they better get in there.
We came up with some excellent ones: go downtown to explore, visit three different restaurants and order their signature dish, explore PETCO with the dogs and pick out a new outfit. You can see, we were in the flow.
So, you have to buy in…now what? Getting everyone to actually go might be the tricky part…
Easy enough, simply make there not be another option. “you are welcome to …(fill in what kid actually wants to do) when we get home from our adventure,” and then MAKE IT FUN!
The first step to creating teamwork in your home so you can get the help you need is to make sure EVERYONE matters. Take the time to invest in those relationships so when you do need help, you are in a relationship instead of grumpy over them using their phone too much.
What is one thing you would add to your jar? Let me know.
