A Family Dinner “Game”

Posted on by Carol Hulbert

A way to talk about faith with your kids is to make family dinner a priority.

But don’t just eat. Play games.

That’s right. To extend your time together as a family, add a “game” to the end of your meal. Here’s a game suggestion that ties to our current Rotation on Daniel and the lions. Make the story come alive! Tell the story dramatically, involving everyone at the table. All you need is a Bible.

Find Daniel 6:3-23. (If you want an easy to read version click here.) One person can be the story teller and everyone else… the characters in the story. To make it easy, there doesn’t have to just be one Daniel and one king – everyone can be Daniel and everyone can be the king. And everyone gets to be lions!

Daniel In the Lions

The reader can create voices for the different story characters. How would the bad guys sound? Sort of whispery? (You do this when reading regular books to your kids; why not apply it to reading the Bible.)

For example, in verse 11 it says…
'
Some of the other royal officials went to where Daniel was staying. They saw him praying and asking God for help.

Ask your family to pretend to be the bad guys. How would they act when they discovered they’d trapped Daniel! Encourage everyone to use their body to tell the story. (The bad guys were probably giving each other high-fives. Yes! We caught him in the act!)

Perhaps she is a lion?
How did Daniel look when he was praying? How did the king react when he heard what he’d done to Daniel? How did the lions look before Daniel was thrown into their den? How did they look when Daniel was among them? (Mouths closed!)

Finish up your “game” with a prayer. (It’s what Daniel probably did.)

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Photo credits:
Daniel with lions a photo of a painting by Robert Edward Weaver (c. 1952), is licensed under Creative Commons CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Kid being a lion by Nathan, who licensed this photo on Flickr under a Creative Commons CC BY 2.0 License.

Daniel’s prayers: Giving thanks

Posted on by Carol Hulbert

Let’s say a law gets passed that says you can’t pray. How would you feel about such a statute? Last week a 4th grader answered this question with…

'Not being able to pray would be like not being able to eat.

I never thought of it like that!

Here’s what Daniel did when he heard about the decree…

'Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before. Daniel 6:10

Daniel was having a bad day, and yet he chose to be thankful.

Always showing gratitude, regardless of your circumstances, isn’t easy. You know what helps: practice.

The best way to practice is to keep a list.

A page from my gratitude listStart a gratitude journal with your family. Talk about what you’d add to your list over the family dinner table.

I’ve been recording thankfuls. Yes I am counting them. I’m going for one thousand, but now that I’ve started, I probably won’t stop.

(Update for Feb. 2017: I’m up to #4,853!)

 

Here are samples from my gratitude journal:

Skating around the lake541. Sunshine.

549. Riding-in-the-car games.

551. Ice skating on the lake.

557. Chocolate mousse pie.

568. The crunch of boots on snow.

 
a sunrise is seen through the trees576. Kindhearted health care providers.

581. A flock of robins in February!

588. The frosty sparkle of morning light.

 
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Photo credits:
Photos are from my archives.

Dinner table conversation?

Posted on by Carol Hulbert

“atA little while back I’d suggested that a way to talk about faith with your kids was to make family dinner a priority. (Click on “family dinner” to read that post.)

Sometimes getting conversation going at the table can be tough, especially for older kids. Here’s an idea:

Before dinner glance at this brief post from “HuffPost Family Dinner Downloads.”

HuffPost? What’s that?

In the words of the editors…

'Every Friday afternoon, just in time for dinner, our editors highlight one of the most compelling news stories of the week — stories that will spark a lively discussion among the whole family.

This particular HuffPost Family Dinner Download happens to be about eating healthy and about one particular retailer (amazingly enough) agreeing to help with that effort especially for folks with limited incomes. Lots of room for various discussion – there are even questions provided to spark conversation!

But where is “faith” in this discussion?

Glad you asked? To tie your discussion to our current Rotation at at FUMC, bring up the question: What did John the Baptist eat?

The answer: locusts and wild honey! (Matthew 3:4) Yum?

Here are some other questions to discuss:

  • Do you suppose people thought John was strange? Why do you think that?
  • Do you suppose that his strange diet (and his strange clothes) were what drew people to him?
  • Oh, so why else did they want to listen to what John the Baptist had to say? And what was it he was saying/doing?
  • John the Baptist baptized with water. What are some ways water gives and sustains life in the world?
  • Why is water a symbol of what God does for us at baptism?

If your children have been baptized, tell them about it. If they haven’t been baptized, discuss baptisms they’ve seen. Enjoy your family dinner!

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Photo credits:
Dinner table photo by vizzzual-dot-com, who licensed this photo on Flickr under a Creative Commons License.

How to find time to talk about faith?

Posted on by Carol Hulbert

A dinner place setting

Talking about faith at home is important for your family, but how do you find the time to work this into your busy schedule?

Make family dinner a priority

Here’s a book to help achieve this goal: The Family Dinner: Great Ways to Connect with Your Kids, One Meal at a Time by Laurie David.

The cover of the book: The Family Dinner

Ann Arbor District Library has this book.
See if it is available!

Paraphrased from the book, here are some “rules” (they call them “simple steps”) that you can implement:

  • Everyone comes to the table, even if they aren’t hungry.
  • No electronics: No TV. No phones. No texting. (This applies to adults as well!)
  • Everyone stays at the table until dinner is over.
  • Everyone tries one bite of each food.
  • Everyone helps clean up.

Another thing they suggest is to play games at the table! (Either while eating or afterwards.) Check out some suggested “dinner table games.” (Clicking on the underlined words takes you to the most recent post in the category “dinner games.” Scroll down to see other options.)

This all sounds hard! Something may have to give in order for this to happen. But it’s important, isn’t it?

How about making it a New Year’s an any time of year Resolution?

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Photo credits:
Table setting by Gisela Francisco on Flickr, who licensed this photo under: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic.
Other photo – from my archives. (I took a picture of this book when I had it checked out from the library!)