Together Time

A little over a year ago I went on a quick ski weekend away with some ladies from my ward. It was great fun and I got in LOTS of girl talk. One of my friends, Megan, shared a great idea that she does with her 4 kids & calls "together time." I loved it so much, I immediately implemented it in our household & here's how it works.

* For 1 hour on Sundays (last year in the afternoons, but now do it in the mornings since our church is later in the day), we have "Together Time."

* We switch off who is "together" and put the kids in pairs.

* Mostly, I don't put Jacob & Jane together since they got to be together ALL the time. So Bek & Emily alternate between J&J. Emily needs some time with bek -  so every few weeks I take J&J and help them have some structured playtime while the girls are together.

* The younger child gets to choose what to do.

* As long as it's not a week that J&J are together, I get an hour of time to myself!

Our lives are so busy and the bigger girls really don't get a lot of time with the littler one's - especially Rebekah who is gone by 5:45 each morning and usually returns home around 7pm, just in time for scriptures and then we pop J&J into bed.

This time for them to be together is wonderful, but I believe the fact that the younger one chooses the activity has made it a fantastic bonding opportunity.

I just had this conversation with Jake.

(Getting him out of the bath)

Me; Oh Buddy look - you have an eyelash.

J; Can I wish on it?

Me; Sure!

J; Those wishes don't even come true anyway. I made a wish before & it didn't even happen.

Me; What did you wish for?

J; I wishded for two Rebekah's.

Me; (laughing) Two Rebekah's! Why would you need two Rebekah's?

J; One that was 11 and one that was going to college. Then one could go and the other one could stay home and play with me.

OK, I had to wipe a tear from my eye! He is such a sweet boy and loves Rebekah so much. We try really hard to find things to do as a family that can involve us all and make memories, but I really think the consistency of together time has helped them all bond as siblings.