Make a Difference at Home by Focusing on Your Family This Week!
Make a meaningful difference this summer by taking the Summer of Service (SOS) Challenge. Here’s how:
- Commit to do one act of kindness each week based on the week’s challenge.
- Leave a comment with ideas relating to the week’s challenge as well as your experience(s) performing it.
- Grab the SOS button at the bottom of this post and put it on your blog or social networking site.
- Enter to win each week’s giveaway. Check out this week’s family focused giveaway by clicking here.
- Join #gno to connect with other Mom It Forward moms about the challenge. (Note: 10 lucky winners will receive popcorn gift packs during #gno!)
10 Ways to Make a Difference This Week
Here are 10 ideas to help you Focus on Family that will make a meaningful difference this week!
- Choose your favorite games and set aside an hour to play them together as a family.
- Enjoy mealtime together, having each person take a turn sharing about his or her favorite part of the day.
- Have a talent show where each person in the family is encouraged to participate. Talents can include simple things like doing a karate kick, juggling, or telling a story to more complex things like playing a musical instrument, reciting a poem, or performing a dance number.
As a family, write a letter or send a package to a family member that lives far away, expressing your love and gratitude for that person.- Decide on your favorite at-home family activity and plan some time this week to do it. For one extra step, assign each family member a day of the week and allow him or her to choose which family activity to do. Set aside an hour to Focus on Family each day this week.
- Make a treat together as a family and share it with a neighbor or other relative.
- Create a CD with all your favorite family songs. Listen, sing, and dance to them together.
- Choose a favorite family movie and set a time this week to have a family movie night. Don’t forget your Orville Redenbacher’s popcorn! Mmmmm!
- Come up with a family mission statement. Identify your family goals and short- and long-term goals. Remember to include fun stuff in your plans like vacations, at-home family activities, etc.
- Make time every day this week to spend one-on-one time with each of your children, telling them how much you love them. Do the same with your spouse!
This week’s SOS Challenge is sponsored by Orville Redenbacher’s. What other ideas do you have for Focusing on Family? Please share a comment here, letting us know how Focusing on Family has made a meaningful difference for you and your family this week.
Photo used with permission from Flickr.
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30 Responses to “Make a Difference at Home by Focusing on Your Family This Week!”
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I Never Grew Up—Ideas and Reviews to Help Parents Entertain, Care for and Educate their Children » Blog Archive » Giveaway–Orville Redenbacher’s Popcorn Gift Pack on June 7, 2009 1:01 pm
[...] a comment on this post by Sunday, June 14 at midnight EDT. You will also need to take this week’s SOS Challenge to Focus on Family by completing one of the post’s 10 suggestions or by performing one random act of kindness that [...]
Carol on June 7, 2009 3:03 pm
We’re doing Number 8 this week….Disney’s Lady and the Tramp Tuesday night with the family.
Carol on June 7, 2009 3:03 pm
We did number 4, sent cookies to a cousin of my husband’s, stationed in training in Texas.
Carol on June 7, 2009 3:03 pm
Tweeted about your nice family-oriented giveaway http://twitter.com/cdziuba/status/2069127151
Carol on June 7, 2009 3:03 pm
As a mom of four, I try to teach by example. Each holiday, after our meal, I package up a lot of leftovers and sweets very nicely, and run them over to an elderly woman who lives alone. Children are like little sponges, absorbing what they see, and it’s important that they realize that the world is full of opportunities to help others every single day. I love this giveaway. It focuses on family and on altruism.
Carissa on June 7, 2009 6:06 pm
Okay we are doing number 2 (that sounds bad… ) tonight. Sunday… we talk about the whole week’s upcoming plans, and we talk about what each kid learned in Sunday School… I LOVE hearing my 5yrold’s understanding of lofty things like God and the resurrection.. I should tape record it sometime in fact!!
As for number 9 we’ve created short and long term goals before, but never thought about making a mission statement.. love that one!
So does this count as part one of the 3 ways to complete the contest requirements??
MRS.MOMMYY on June 7, 2009 7:07 pm
we do many of them each week, even if its forced- we are creating memories- my favorite is the game night number one..we have been doing this for almost 18 years so creating family time is important to us
MRS.MOMMYY on June 7, 2009 7:07 pm
3 sounds fun and since it is summer we are going to plan a fun show where no one knows what the others are doing
Carrie Miyake on June 8, 2009 9:09 am
Most of these are hard to do with our little one since she is still a baby but we always do number 2, eating together. She is still little but we sit at the dining room table and pull up her high chair. We want to start family dinner time at an early age so that she gets used to it. We also do # 10, she is our only child but I try to spend every moment I can with her once we get home from work until she goes to bed.
Summer of Service Popcorn Giveaway | Make and Takes on June 8, 2009 4:04 pm
[...] excited about participating in the Summer of Service (SOS) going on over at Mom it Forward, who’s mission is to “change the world, one mom at a [...]
bylittlehands on June 8, 2009 4:04 pm
I love this idea! I am always looking for ways to spend some memorable time with my little ones before they gow up on me.
Here are some wonderful craft ideas to share with your kids this summer …. http://www.bylittlehands.com
Angie on June 8, 2009 4:04 pm
We did Game Night last night. We usually do one once a week. It’s so fun and it brings us together!
Kelly Ann T. on June 8, 2009 7:07 pm
We made home-made dog bones and dropped them off at our local no-kill shelter. We even played the song Who Let The Dogs Out and got silly.
Jeannie on June 9, 2009 7:07 am
We are going to get back to doing the Wii Fit after dinner EVERY NIGHT like we used to before we moved. We all love it!!
Thanks for this great “boost:!
Adelas on June 9, 2009 8:08 am
When my stepkids are in town, we make sure that we eat dinner together every day. They love entertaining their baby brother while we eat – they don’t even realize that they are both serving me (allowing me to eat while he eats – what a novel concept) and building their relationship with their brother.
We also try to set aside one night each week for family game night, and another as family movie night.
I think the “bake dog bones” idea is great, too – we’ll have to try that out!
Naddez on June 9, 2009 2:02 pm
My family enjoys mealtime together, discussing about our day went. This is done several times a week.
Giveaway—Win a Popcorn Gift Pack for the Perfect Family Night In! : Mom it Forward on June 9, 2009 2:02 pm
[...] this week’s SOS Challenge to Focus on Family by completing one of the post’s 10 suggestions or by performing one random act of kindness [...]
Amanda on June 9, 2009 3:03 pm
We LOVE playing games together. We take one night a week to read a couple of stories (for summer reading program) and then dive right into a game or two. The favorites include Hungry Hippos, Mickey Mouse fishing, and Cars Tractor Tippin!
Michele P. on June 9, 2009 5:05 pm
We are going to do #8 probably Friday or Saturday night, it’s always fun to watch a family movie together!
#10 I try to do just about every day-even if it is only for a few moments…gotta let the family know how special they are to me!
Night Owl Mama on June 9, 2009 8:08 pm
We hopefully will get to do #2 tomorrow. Its usually the day my oldest isn’t working or has school. Having dinner all together with conversations is my favorite day of the week.
Hollie on June 9, 2009 8:08 pm
We did create a family music play list and had a dance off!
Teach Your Kids the Importance of Giving Back on June 10, 2009 4:04 pm
[...] look to see what your Church or kids groups have planned for the summer. Definitely check out the Mom It Forward challenge. What we love about the Mom It Forward suggestions is that they remind us that we should all be [...]
KeriAnne on June 10, 2009 7:07 pm
We did game night on Monday, and played Sorry on the Wii. We were going to play the board game version, but that means little pieces for little hands to grab, run off with and try to eat! Much safer with the Wii!
Amber! on June 10, 2009 9:09 pm
We are doing a few things:
1. Reading together and I read individually with each kiddo.
2. Having my oldest help make dinner.
3. Increasing our kind words!
Erica on June 12, 2009 12:12 am
I did #4, I packed up a care package for my mom and sent it out to her. I sent her some snickerdoodles, a couple books I know she’d love, and some jewelry I won on a blog contest.
Susan Blossom on June 12, 2009 9:09 am
When my girls were younger we would regularly go to our local grocery store, early in the morning, & collect the day old breads & pastries that the store was tossing out. Many of them were still good quality.) Sometimes we’d fill our trunk AND our back seat! Then we’d deliver the items to the food bank & homeless shelters in our area. One time the shelters were overflowing with food but they told us that the Laguna Beach shelter was in need. So we drove about 15 miles to make the delivery. It was a great way for my girls to learn that there were plenty of other people in harder situations than ours. Seeing the happy smiles at the delivery end was really uplifting.
Christi on June 12, 2009 11:11 am
We’ve enjoyed going to Bible School together this week, ran errands together this morning, and are going to a local music festival together tomorrow! Then on Sunday, we’re heading on an overnight trip to spend time at a local church assembly with my side of the family! I LOVE summer because we get to spend more time together as a family!
Tiffany F. on June 13, 2009 9:09 am
This week has been fun filled with VBS. Every night at supper to encourage my daughter to talk about what she learned we would take turns as a family talking about our favorite part of the day. Great way to promote positive conversation at the dinner table.
Mishia on June 14, 2009 1:01 am
We did number 8 this week and watched Kung Fu Panda!
Wehaf on October 28, 2009 5:05 pm
We’ve completed #4 twice!