Establishing Family Movie Night
Every family should have a tradition. While most do in connection with the holidays, why not develop a special tradition that could be enjoyed throughout the year! One option would be to set up family movie night. For this, you might do this once or possibly twice a month, which would be time set aside for the entire family to enjoy each other’s company and bond.
Even if you have smaller children, there is no reason why a family movie night could not be established. Of course, because children are involved, even when they reach teenage years you probably want to avoid certain types of movies such as those that show violence, sex, or bad language. However, there are literally thousands of excellent movies from which to choose.
If you have satellite or cable television, you could look at different movie channels available. For instance, along with Showtime, HBO, and Cinemax, you could choose the Disney Channel and others. Again, any movie needs to be appropriate for the age of children. Of course, you could always do a one-night rental through companies such as NetFlix or start building your own library of DVDs by watching for sales.
In addition to movies for adults, remember that most of the animated films developed for children are so great that adults find them entertaining too. For example, Lilo and Stitch, Monster Ball, Shriek, Cars, and Toy Story are perfect examples. Movies such as these are well made, they have a great storyline, and they are perfect for everyone. Of course, as your children begin to mature, the types of movies could be broadened.
No movie night would be complete without appropriate seating and snacks. You would definitely need popcorn but you could also choose snacks that everyone likes such as nachos, mini-tacos, potato skins, etc. If you typically eat dinner in the dining room, you could make an exception for this night, using TV trays to eat dinner while watching the movie. The goal of having a tradition such as this is to let go of strict rules and have fun.
Now, for seating, we have an excellent option. While you and your spouse could snuggle on the couch, why not purchase a child’s size couch for the children to enjoy. In fact, if you have a younger child that is a sports enthusiast, you could even purchase a director chair, stuffed chair, rocking chair, or other type of seating for his or her favorite sports team. You can be sure your child would prefer family movie night while sitting in his/her own chair.
By creating specific seating for adults and seating for the children, they feel more a part of this tradition. Because they are being provided with a personal chair or sofa, children quickly understand just how important family movie night is to the entire family. After doing this a few times, you can be sure that if you were to miss a night, the children would bring it to your attention that it is time to start a movie. Once the children are old enough, they could start making suggestions for the movie to watch, which again makes them feel a vital part of this simple yet important family tradition.
Author Bio: Ray Collingsworth is an expert author on topics related to parenting and kids’s furniture. Visit our site for information on kids chairs and other kid’s furniture.
Category: Parenting
Keywords: parenting, family, children, kids, movie night, safety, home, child, nanny, daycare, bonding,
