The Family That Plays Together

What are your favorite memories of your growing-up years? What are your kids’ favorite memories?

Many of my best memories are of times when my family was having fun together.

My father loved the outdoors, and our family took many backpacking hikes to beautiful lakes in the Cascade and Olympic Mountains. The scenery was breathtaking, and the sense of shared accomplishment was satisfying. It wasn’t all fun, of course. But the tired muscles, sore back and mosquito-bitten arms only added to the memories.

With my own children, I remember bike rides along the Little Miami Scenic Trail. We might stop to read a book together along the way, and later stop to get ice cream cones.

A command to rejoice with family

God is not against fun. In fact, He even commands us to rejoice with our families at His annual festivals:

“And you shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant and the Levite, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow, who are within your gates” (Deuteronomy 16:14).

God wants young people to rejoice!

“Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth; walk in the ways of your heart, and in the sight of your eyes; but know that for all these God will bring you into judgment” (Ecclesiastes 11:9).

God includes the warning because so many ways that people seek to have fun are fun only for the moment, but then reap a world of hurt. Who better than parents to help their children learn to rejoice without regret?

Spending time, building memories, strengthening families

Consider some good advice from several authors of parenting books:

• “Parents wind up being unavailable to their kids because they are too busy,” write Josh McDowell and Dick Day. But, “Love Is Spelled T-I-M-E. You spell acceptance and appreciation the same way” (How to Be a Hero to Your Kids, 1991, p. 147).
• “One secret to remember is that the psychological defenses of moody teenagers are very high, and it takes time for them to be slowly lowered to where they are able to genuinely communicate and share with you what is really on their mind. Did you catch that magic word? Time” (D. Ross Campbell, How to Really Love Your Teen, 2003, p. 39).
• “In today’s world our children have schedules as filled as ours. When are they children, with time to relax, time to talk, time to play?” (Edythe Denkin, Why Can’t You Catch Me Being Good? 2000, p. 73).

God lends us His children for just a few years. Love them, teach them, build good memories and enjoy your time together!

Learn more in the “Parenting” section of Life, Hope & Truth.