First, it was video games keeping our kid’s hostage from playing outside. Now it’s Pokémon Go that’s got our kids on the run non-stop.
The truth is there will always be something that will demand our children’s attention. However, one thing that does not change, is our desire as parent’s, to keep our children close to home.
Yes, our children grow up and leave, but it’s in the growing stage where we want them home. We also want to know their friends, and to keep it real, we want to be known as the cool parents.
We have to admit, we take pride in making our home our sanctuary; a place of refuge, a place of peace, and nice décor. But years ago, when Timberley read: Preparing Him For The Other Women, it hit her that we have plenty of time for home decorating when our children leave the house.
Now is the time for creating an environment that welcomes their friends.
As our children reach their teenage years, hanging out with their friends become their top priority. And if we don’t create a welcoming environment for their friends, our teenagers will desire to be anywhere else but home.
You would think that when the kids become teenagers, this would be a challenge. But the truth is when our son became a college student, keeping his friends engaged to hang out at our home became more difficult. Until the day, we decided to turn our formal dining room table into a ping-pong table!
Earlier this summer, we took a family vacation which is always fun and crazy; because we have such a big family. Yet, it amazes us how every year we find creative things to do; that’s not just inexpensive but something the whole family loves.
On this particular trip, we played ping pong inside the house for hours! How? We played on a dining room table with a portable retractable ping pong net. In fact, we had so much fun, we ordered one on Amazon and had it delivered by the time we got home.
For weeks after our vacation, the ping pong net stayed up, and the bragging rights began! All of this of course needed to be documented in the Game Ledger. And the best part of this story is that, it started to attract our son’s college friends.
They were having late nights with pizza, snacks and ping pong! We would even get in on the competition; which made us look like the coolest parents EVER. (Little did they know snacks were provided because mama coupons!)
It’s amazing how with one small change, we created an environment for our son’s college friends who wanted to hang out in our home!
Look around your house and ask yourself if you’ve created a home for family and friends to gather, play games, and create memories, or have you staged a house with fancy furniture and décor that says don’t touch?
With all the things in this world that pull on our children for their attention, what better place to start creating an environment that welcomes healthy gatherings than right at home? After all, we could be entertaining angels.
“ Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers,
for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it!”
~ Hebrews 13:2 (NLT)
~ André and Timberley Gray
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