Twenty-three years after becoming parents, Daniel and I finally scheduled our first family meeting. Granted, this is probably an idea that would have been more beneficial years ago but heck, we were darn proud of ourselves that we actually got all four of us in a room at the same time without the television on. This particular pow-wow was initiated due to an unfortunate incident with the car purchased by us for use by our kids. Somehow or another this detail (the fact that it's our car) seems to be continually overlooked by our children. When my husband looked at said vehicle on the driveway, he was appalled to see it looking like something out of a Hoarders episode. Ready to relegate them both to bicycles and roller blades, we instead decided that a weekly family meeting to discuss respect, responsibility and goal-setting would be a better alternative. Okay, it was lame but we had to give it a shot.
Finding a day and time that worked for all was tough. Selling the idea was even toughter. We finally settled on Wednesday. Mid-week, right before dinner. If they behaved themselves, they might actually be fed. We set an agenda with time for complaints, concerns, compliments (don't laugh) and requests. Everyone got a chance to speak without interruption or critique. We even made sure that we ended on a positive note with everyone sharing something for which they were grateful. Surprisingly, no one groaned (loudly) and everyone seemed to think these weekly get-togethers might not be too painful and might actually be productive. I walked away feeling hopeful. After just one week, the jury's definitely still out but anything that gets this family talking has to be a step in the right direction.
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