Scripture Union wants to help you and your family connect with Jesus and His Story. We have Bible reading guides and Bible story books for your entire family (from 0-99). Our newest resource helps combine quality family time with God’s Word – helping your entire family connect with God’s Word while having fun and growing together. Check it out.
This blog post was based on a School of KidsMin video by our dear friend Christie Warren – watch it here.
One study shows that most parents spend less than 2 hours each day with their children. This includes meal times and bedtimes! Life has become very busy for most families – it has impacted how much time we spend together. This decline in time together impacts more than just your relationship with each other, it can also impact mental health, physical health and spiritual health! Here’s why we want to encourage you to spend more time with your family.
Benefits of Family Time Around the Table
Did you know that simply sharing a meal around a dinner table has multiple benefits?
Benefits for our children
Studies show that children who share a meal with their family show lower rates of depression, anxiety, decreased risk of eating disorders, substance abuse, reduced odds of obesity, increased communication skills, improved academic performance, it boosts self-esteem and children tend to be more resilient.
Benefits for our family
Sitting around a table is important for relationship building as well. If you think back to Jesus’ life, He spent a lot of meals with people.
Ways to Connect
Here are some ways that your family can connect around a table:
1) Learn Together
Help your children with their school work at the table (whether they attend school at home or away). One way to make this special is by having a bin filled with all the supplies they will need for homework (pencils, erasers, colouring pencils, ruler, paper). If your smaller children don’t have work to do at the table, pull out a colouring or activity book for them to do.
2) Play Together
Keep board games, lego, blocks, card games, play-doh or craft supplies close to the table and pull them out when you’re ready to play together. Having fun together is vital!
3) Make Traditions
Kids love traditions (don’t we all!) why not create special family traditions. Maybe it is decorating cookies at Christmas, or lighting the advent wreath. It could be making a birthday card for your family members or baking banana bread together at the start of each week (a great snack idea!).
4) Grow Together
Table time is the perfect time for growing in faith. Often, parents think that when they do family devotions it is them imparting knowledge on their children. However, Jesus reminded us that we must become like little children if we want to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Digging into God’s Word together helps us parents see a different perspective on the passage, as well as gives everyone the opportunity to hear from God.
Family Quest
Our newest family resource is perfect for table time! It was designed with the whole family in mind – to help you engage with the Bible, spark conversations, help you play together and memorize God’s Word.
It helps you learn, play and grow together! It also would be great if it helps your family develop a tradition of coming together at the start or end of each day to connect with Jesus and His Story.
Each time you sit down together, pull out the next card, read the Bible story and then roll the die to find out what your activity for the day will be. It might have you acting out a Bible story together, engaging in an exciting contest, asking a personal question or rapping a Bible verse in unison. Our goal is to help you read the Bible together, make memories, see the big story of the Bible and learn different ways to engage with the Word.
Make family time a priority. We can help.
