My brother Mark’s children are all adults now and they refer to family activities when they were younger as FFF. Mark and Melinda had “forced family fun”. Their kids all laugh about having to call it that for a reason when they were younger, and now use it endearingly as they love being together and having fun as a family. But I can totally relate to their early days of getting everyone on board with an activity and we had our own version of FFF this weekend between conference sessions.
Getting all of the Willies to agree to a family ride was a challenge, but we made it out the door. It was validating to come home and hear President Oaks emphasize the importance of family centered activities and state, “The purpose of the Plan is to exalt families”.
And so even with much opposition, we will continue our quest to create happy memories through wholesome family recreational activities.
Some of the kids might describe these “happy” memories as just… “memories”, but I really believe that in the future they will reflect and recall them as happy ones. First, because we were together, and Second, because they are learning that this is important enough to their parents that we refuse to give up the quest for peaceful quality time together when faced with some contention. We told the kids that if they want to have happier family time, then they need to practice being happier during family time.
This one had some stressful and emotional moments since everyone bikes at different paces and had varying expectations for the outing, but overall it was a success. We were together and everyone reported that they liked it—-even the kids who took a lot of persuasion to get in the car. This is a win for the Willardsons!
No comments:
Post a Comment