Launching the Adventure in Your Home
Plan how you will announce this new adventure in your home. A good launch takes place with all the leadership on board, so start by sharing with your mate, grandparents, or older kids who may be living in the home. In some cases getting leadership to buy in may be difficult. That doesn’t mean you can’t do the adventure, but it will require extra conviction and passion on your part to carry it through. Furthermore, sharing it first with the other leaders in your home is a way to honor them. We realize that the face of the family may look different in each situation, but every type of family benefits from the 40-Day Family Adventure.
Single parents can use the exercise to clarify their own convictions about life. Blended families can grow as each person shares from the heart. Grandparents raising children, adoptive parents, or even foster parents can use this time to help mold the thinking and beliefs of the children under their care. Even families where one parent is a believer and the other isn’t, can help children understand why you’ve made the choices you have in life.
So, before you get too far, share the idea of the 40-Day Family Adventure with those who help lead your family to maximize its acceptance in your home. Some members of the family may take to a new idea better than others. Usually giving a preview in a couple of stages is helpful. The first one will share the idea while the second discussion describes more about what will actually take place. Depending on your situation, you might want to share the idea individually with each member of your family separately. Other families might find that a joint announcement is the best approach.
For example, you might say, “Next week we’re going to start something fun and interesting in our family. I think you’ll especially like it because you enjoy asking questions.” With another child, you might start the dialogue by saying, “I like adventures. I found one for our family that’s going to be quite interesting. We start next week.”
Be prepared for resistance. Most families have at least one person that has a negative response or presents the challenge of a bad attitude. Don’t be deterred. You might want to appeal personally with more dialogue at a later time, giving the child the opportunity to think about it for a bit. In some cases, you may just have to be firm and tell a child that this is what we’re doing and require it as an assignment, praying that God will breathe life into the interaction as you move forward.
You know your family the best, so take some time and plan the introduction of the adventure in your home. Often the announcement sets the stage for a positive time so a bit of planning on this level can go a long way to ensure a positive experience.
For the “Family Time” piece, you’re going to want to make sure that you find a time that works well in everyone’s schedule. It sounds easy to find 20-30 minutes each week in the schedule, but many parents are finding that their lives are already so full so it may not be so easy. You may need to make time for this if you believe that passing the faith on to your children is a priority.
Scheduling might be a challenge. Most good things are difficult. Plan the best you can and start heading in the right direction. It may just not work some weeks. Don’t give up. Next week provides a new opportunity!
If you have young people in your family who are initiating with the six questions, then you’ll want to be aware that they’ll be looking for times to talk with you. Encourage them to take initiative but let this be an opportunity for them to grow in leadership as well. They may need help from you in developing a plan and they may need you to create the structure by setting aside a time designed specifically to do their assignment.