What Works

My cousin, Paul, likes to joke, "even a blind squirrel occasionally finds a nut."

We make a lot of mistakes in our parenting, but every once in a while we come across something that works really well.  Since I feel like a lot of things aren't going very well right now ("Hello, tantrumming two-year old!"), I thought I'd take a minute to remind myself that sometimes things go right.

When Aubree turned two, Mark started taking her on regular Daddy-Daughter dates.  I'm happy to report that we've continued to be consistent with that for five years now and I know it's a highlight of Aubree's life.  When Bryce turned two, he also got a turn having regular Father/Son outings.  And (you guessed it), Thane recently joined in the rotation as well.

I think what makes it effective is that it's not overwhelming.  The activities occur on a quarterly basis and each kid has their own month (i.e. Aubree has January, April, July, and November).  I'm not sure what we'll do when Graham turns two; we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.  

The activities have ranged from the very simple (usually the younger ones like to go to the library or walk though the toy aisle at Target, Bryce and Thane like to go look at the boats on the lake, or feed the ducks), to the more standard (movies, Build-and-Grow clinics at Lowe's, etc.), to the fancy (plays and ballets).  Regardless of the activity, they almost always end in an ice-cream at McDonalds.

Most recently, Bryce went with Mark to a model train show at a local community center.  He loved it!  

He also entered a door-prize raffle and won a trip for two on the Snoqualmie railroad (so...anyone want to guess what his Father/Son outing will be in a few months??)!

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Another thing that's worked pretty well for us, is the nightly scripture study routine we've used for almost 2 years now.  I figure it's time to document what we've done because - now that our kids are getting a little older - it's about time to switch it up.

We start by reading a story from the Friend from my phone (Gospel Library has back editions available for years and years, we started with 2005, read a story most nights, and are now in 2011).  Then we'll talk about the story and read the associated scripture(s).  

After reading the story we work on reciting a scripture we're memorizing as a family.  We started with the 13 Articles of Faith, and once Aubree had them memorized, we moved on to other scriptures (I was using the monthly primary scriptures, but now I just choose scriptures I want them to know).   When we first started, we "moved on" once Aubree had the scripture memorized.  Now that Bryce is older, we "move on" once he has the scripture memorized as well.  Once a scripture has been mastered, I write it on an index card and add it to our pile of memorized scriptures.
After working on our "new" scripture, we pull out the pile of index cards of scriptures we've already learned, and one of the kids says, "pick a card, any card!"  All three kids pull a card and we recite those scriptures to help keep them fresh in our minds.  Those chosen cards then get set-aside until we've gone through all the rest of the cards, at which point we start the whole thing over.

  

Through this process, we've memorized 37 scriptures (including the Articles of Faith) over the last 2 years!  Aubree has all of them memorized.  Bryce has many of them memorized, and at least pieces of all of them memorized.  Thane likes to hand out the cards.

One thing that's been really neat about this, is that in Sacrament meeting at church, the kids frequently hear one of "their" scriptures being used in a talk.  They'll sit up tall, look at me with big eyes, and mouth the words along with the speaker.  It's really helped them be better at paying attention and feel like they have a place in the meeting.  Plus, it's always fun when words from scriptures come out in their every day play and conversations.  As in, "be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted!" 

I think it's time for us to read more from the scriptures every night, but we won't be changing our scripture memorization routine.  It couldn't be simpler or more low-tech, but it's effective and I can't wait to see how many more scriptures we know two years from now!