Week 100

Positive post Sunday, January 13, 2019- Week 100. 

Have you been looking for ways to increase “quality” family time?

I’m sure you would agree that there is clearly not a shortage of communication devices and social media channels to keep our kids occupied 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  With smart watches, smart phones, tablets, laptops, TVs, Instagram, Snapchat, You Tube, Facebook and Twitter to name a few, it’s no wonder we are fighting for quality and meaningful time and conversation with our kids.  

However, used right and responsibly, these devises and channels can be helpful tools to communicate positive, wholesome and meaningful messages, which is what I’ve tried to do for the past 99 weeks with these Positive Post Sundays.  Another positive example is the use of apps like Facetime and Duo to stay in touch with family and friends like we do with our son Jeff Rendler and his family who live in North Carolina.  

That being said, this post is focused on good old-fashioned face to face time with our kids and family.  What happened to reading the bible, playing a board game, putting a puzzle together, watching a movie and eating dinner “together” and “without” cell phones?  Well, with Kendall, Nikole and Christian getting laptops and the girls getting Apple watches, we were off to a rocky start over the holidays.  As I’m sure many of you have experienced, it has been hard to pry them away from their phones and computers to have meaningful conversion.  We’ve had to resort to limiting their use and although they’re usually playing fun or educational games or talking with friends, with all the bad actors out there, we continue to make sure their experiences are positive and appropriate.

Well, it’s not all doom and gloom and there is hope!  We have spent some quality time together serving at church, watching movies by a fire, putting puzzles together and playing board games (ok, before Michele comments, I usually watched while they played board games).  However, in my defense, I did find a thoughtful and impactful card game for our family to play.  It’s called Vertellis, which means “tell us more” in Dutch.   I encourage you to check it out.  I’m sure, like I did, you will find this to be far more than just a card game.  It’s a real opportunity to connect more deeply with family and friends through thoughtful and insightful questions.  Vertellis’ mission is right on target with the theme of this Positive Post Sunday.  Here it is, “Our mission is to bring people together at a time when we seem to be distracted by technology and ambition. The Vertellis team hopes to make a positive impact in the world by facilitating beautiful conversations and stimulate time offline!”

What are you doing to stay connected to your family and friends in a meaningful way?