My husband and I are incredibly busy these days, and we know how important it is for our family to spend time together. Many times my hubby comes home just before or right after the kids go to bed. In theory we would love to have dinner together as a family. I grew up with that tradition and have so many fond memories of the conversations we had at the table. It was the way that my family stayed connected. However, in this season of life, we are not able to make that happen. We will one day. So instead of lamenting over the fact that we cannot do that, we are trying out something that will hopefully have the same result for now.

Every Wednesday night my hubby is home relatively early. We have decided that this is our family date night. Do you have a family date night? So far we have tried hiking, walking the dog, and playing a board game with the kids. Our focus is on building a strong family. There is no grown up talk; we discuss things that are relevant to everyone in the family. It is the time that Daddy has to catch up on what is important to the kids at that point in time. I hope that we can make some wonderful memories together during this time that we have set aside.

Although we are committed to making family date night a priority, we have not worked out all of the kinks yet. It is difficult to squeeze in dinner and a family activity sometimes. There are times that the children are too cranky or tired to be able to deal with anything except going to bed. Sometimes Daddy has to work later than he usually does. But we have high hopes for this endeaver. WIth time and effort, I know that we will be able to make our family date night work, and I know that our family will be that much stronger for it.