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word exchanged except "pass the
butter" or "change the channel"?
How often do you enjoy an inter–
es ting evening a round the piano?
How often do you teach your chil–
dren sorne useful and constructive
skills? How often do you play vari–
ous games with your children?
If you do plan an evening out , or
a short trip, is your family always
excluded? Hopefully not. When you
go to a restaurant, are the children
with you at least sorne ofthe time?
Family üfe is being stifled in our
modern socie ty- partly beca use
many families have ceased being
families and are becoming mere ly
occasional gatherings of casual ac–
quaintances.
2) Get To Know Each Other
Pa rents don' t know their children's
friends, their studies in school , their
hopes and dreams. Children don' t
really know their parents- don' t
even know for sure how dad makes
a living; don' t know what mom does
on an average day.
You don' t believe it? Take a test!
Ask your boy or girl exactly wha t
kind of work you do. What are the
problems you face- what are the
various ins and outs of your occupa–
tion? Ask your children to describe
mom's typical day at home. You ' ll
be surprised.
Parents, ask your children wha t
they did in school; with whom they
did it; what they learned by it.
You' ll soon find yourself in an inter–
es ting discussion with your children.
Parents, why not learn to include
the whole family in sorne of your
entertainment? Why not begin to
really control your TV viewing?
Why not begin to have mea ls to–
gether more? Why not
try
to create
more interesting, scintillating con–
versations by deliberately choosing
stimulating topics? Why not be
more of a family?
3) Parents, Listen to Your Chlldren
Talk to your children, teach your
children. and above a ll, üsten to
them! Many a kid won't tell his
father or his mother what's wrong,
but he' ll tell bis closest friend a t
school. He' ll share his deepes t hopes
and innermos t pa ins with tha t other
kid, but, more often than not, he
won' t open up to his own parents.
24
Why? lt's like this. Mom and dad
forgot how to listen a long time ago.
The poor kid sta rts to say some thing
and, just üke tha t, dad interrupts.
End of conversa tion. Finally, he j ust
gives up altogether!
Parents, the most precious stew–
a rdship you've got is tha t of your
own child. Wha t a hideous crime it
is to a llow precious human cha rac–
ter to slowly disintegrate right in
front ofyour eyes!
4) Deliberately Plan a DIHerent Day
Sometimes we a ll get in a rut.
lt
ta kes d el ibe r a te , pla nned fore–
thought to roust us out. dne way to
start a different day is to force your–
self to get up half an hour earlie r
than usual. Plan to spend that extra
time around the breakfast table with
your family. Wives, plan ahead with
sorne kind of "special" you' re going
to introduce into the breakfast rou–
tine. Husbands, bounce into the
kitchen with a sparkle in your eye
and with real cheer in your voice.
Talk to your family-don' t just bury
your face in the morning newspa–
per.
Your family is like a beautiful
garden.
It
needs lots of carefu l a t–
tention- watering, cultivating, prun–
ing, weeding out of wrong practices
and habits. It needs diligent work–
not just accidenta l happenstance.
5) Have a Weekly Famlly Night
Pick one n ight of the week when the
whole family can be together. Plan
something special. For open e rs,
mom might like to serve a diffe rent
and interesting ethnic dish. You
might let the children set up the
games. Or perhaps go out
together
to a Disney movie.
What about churning up sorne
old-fashioned , homemad e ice
cream? Invite your children 's
fri ends to the occasion once in a
while. These a re just sorne ideas to
get you started. Once you get the
ba ll rolling, you won' t have enough
nights to put a ll your ideas into ef–
fect. The main thing is learning to
do things together as a family.
Family night has recently become
a regular practice for most members
of the Worldwide Church of God .
I'd like you to read a few le tters
about how sorne of them observe
their family nights.
From Danville, 11/inois:
" 1 have
been a member of the Church for
five years and now have a very re–
warding career as coordinator of the
Family Education Center in Dan–
ville. At F.E.C., we have study-dis–
cussion groups for pa rents who want
to prevent family pro blems by
learning pa rent ing skills. We use
books like
Raising a Responsible
Child
by Don Denhmeyer and Gary
McKay. In our groups we have one
session on ways to encourage chil–
dren to be more coopera tive and
responsible by involving them in
problem-solving, recreation plan–
ning and even rule-making and dis–
cipline. This is not intended to be a
'voting session' where parents a re
outvoted, but as an opportunity for
even young children. to give impor–
tant input into the smooth running
of a family. This is a part of our
family night and a very important
one."
From A
u
rora, Colorado:
"Thank
you, thank you,
thank you- a
hun–
dred times over-for ' instituting' a
family night! This world is so fas t
moving it takes its toll on all of us
until there is no time left for family.
We don' t have a big family yet, only
a five-month-old son , but since fam–
ily night began three weeks ago, we
truly look forward to that special
night each week when we can do
things we might not do or enjoy if
we didn' t actually have s uch a
night."
From Cincinnati, Ohio:
"We a re
going to hold our family gathering
this week in the park. We enjoy
cooking out, so we will cook and eat
in the park. This will also allow us
to enjoy the beauty of the pa rk in
the spring."
What Makes a Nation Great?
1 couldn' t agree more with President
Carter's evaluation of the family.
He said: "The entire history of the
human race teaches us that the fam–
ily unit is the best way for men and
women to live their üves, the best
way to ra ise children, and the only
solid founda tion upon wh ich to
build a strong nation."
The family unit represents the ha–
s ic building block of any c iv–
iüzation. The family is our most
precious institution.
Let's bring it
back!
O
The
PLAIN TRUTH August-September 1977