I’ve been doing some great reading the last couple of months. Two of the books that stand out in particular have sparked some great discussion around starting new family traditions – both with the holidays coming up and just life in general. 

The two books I read recently and LOVED were: The Tech-Wise Family by Andy Crouch and The Lifegiving Table by Sally Clarkson. 

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So here’s what we are working on now:

1) Intentional media breaks

Inside the book, The Tech Wise Family he has a really interesting idea for limiting your family’s media use. His family reserves one hour a day, one day a week, and one week a year as media-free time! So we’ve started implementing this idea into the regular rhythms of our family life. 

We want to get more intentional about these breaks where we limit or shut off media and technology all together. 

1 hour a day

This isn’t a very hard one for me to work on. I have multiple hours in my day where the kids and I have no media access. But I did recently take off Facebook and email from my phone. And turned off ALL notifications, it’s been wonderful! 

1 day a week 

This was probably the hardest of the three to choose. But we chose for our media-free day a week to be Sundays. This works well since we want to use that day to rest and think about the Lord anyway! We want to spend more time reading, playing board games, doing a picnic outside, practicing hospitality, etc. 

I love this idea from The Tech-Wise Family

“One of our treasured family traditions is Sunday afternoon tea, a custom loosely borrowed from our British ancestors that is easier to prepare than a full Sunday dinner. Our daughter makes place cards and hand letters a menu. We slice up fruit, bake cookies and bread, make little sandwiches, brew a pot of tea (and maybe pour some still or sparkling wine along the way, too) – and many Sundays we invite friends or neighbors to join us. The adults love the lack of pressure to deliver (or clean up after) a hot meal, the children love a meal composed entirely of snacks, and we all love the conviviality of passing simple, tasty treats around the table, and around again.” 

1 week a year

We have an annual trip to the lake each year and this seems like a perfect time to implement this. We are in a cabin by the lake, so we don’t have access to a ton of media. But we do still have our phones and we bring our laptops in case we need to check in with work. 

So this year on our trip we want to be more intentional with the time, how much we are on our phones, etc! The one exception this is that we do a lot of reading on our Kindles, so this doesn’t count as media 😉 

2) More candlelight dinners

 This is something that both books recommended and anytime we’ve done it, it has been so special. So I want to start doing once a week of eating by candlelight. The boys think it’s super special and it’s a fun way to make dinner a little special when it’s normally so chaotic. 

I also want to do more special candlelit dinners with Jason after the kids go to bed. I think a goal of couple times a month would be fun! This way we can sit, chat, connect, and have a nice less chaotic dinner. 

3) Being more intentional about Sunday mornings

This was an idea that was very interesting fromThe Lifegiving Table. At first I thought it was impractical, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I need to do it. 

Sally shares in her book that they have special traditions on Sunday morning including getting up very early, making a special Sunday breakfast, talking around the breakfast table, etc. I love the idea but it seems really impractical for my family with small kids. 

But it’s very easy to let Sunday morning get too crazy and overwhelming. So I already plan to set clothes out the night before, make sure we have oatmeal in the crockpot, etc. But I love the idea of making Sunday morning breakfast special. So I want to start making some things ahead of time, french toast bake, pancakes, etc. 

I like the idea of planning stuff so well the day before, that Sunday morning starts off well. No one is crambling, no one is yelling, and no craziness to get out the door. It won’t always look that smooth, but I love the idea of shooting for that. 

I love this quote from The Tech-Wise Family,

“Our homes aren’t meant to be just refueling stations, places where we and our devices rest briefly, top up our charge, and then go back to frantic activity. They are meant to be places where the very best of life happens.”  

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