Category Archive

. . . and by ‘tragedy’ I mean ‘Minor Inconvenience’.

Question: What do a Mcdonalds french fry container, a frisbee and a empty yogurt cup have in common?

Explanation: Last night we were at Indian Mounds Park, at a nice little spot overlooking the Mighty Mississippi and the kids had already cheered when they heard that Debbie had made Tuna Noodle Casserole, one of their favorites.  But then we realized that we had forgotten the paper bowls that Debbie had taken out for the picnic, which was what we were going to serve the casserole with. We had one paper plate and a tupperware container, but that wasn’t enough. What can we do?

So JamDad went back to the van and looked around.

Answer: All of these objects can be used to serve tuna noodle casserole on. I had the pleasure of using the Mcdonalds french fry container.

Sometimes little tragedies can be turned into family funny stories.

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Jamfam Picnic Update –

Question: On our way to 100 picnics in 2010, how far are we at this point?

Answer: 75 on August 15

So I hope this helps further explain why our family likes this spot so much.

Click on the image to see full size.

Here’s a Poem I made about this spot.

3 Lists –

Reasons To Encourage Your Child To Help Out
1. It teaches them skills they will need to learn eventually
2. It teaches them to be non-lazy
3. It shows the value of working together
4. It helps them feel useful
5. Your family will be more productive
6. Your wife will have less work to do

Good Reasons For Not Encouraging Your Child To Help
1. They aren’t skilled enough to do this job right now.
2. They have school work to do. / It’s time for bed.
3. They’ve worked more hours than you today.

Bad Reasons For Not Encouraging Your Child To Help
1. I don’t feel like teaching them this skill.
They have to learn it someday, why not now?
2. They won’t do it as well as me.
Does that really matter?
3. They’ll take longer to do it than I would.
If it frees you to do other work, this is not an issue
4. I don’t want to be a slave driver.
Is the time your child spends doing schoolwork or household
less than a half of the time you spend working? If not,
this is not an issue.
5. The child really doesn’t want to.
This is a good time to teach them that sometimes you have
to do things you don’t want to do.
6. They’re being so good and quiet watching TV/playing a video game.
It’s not worth the quiet.

End well.

A few things here:

1. Make sure you leaves some fun things for the very end of the trip. Our yearly trips to the North Shore always end at Canal Park in Duluth, where we often get to see very large ships entering or leaving port and sometimes we eat at Grandma’s. Trips that start great and end boring are anticlimactic.

2. Consider getting home hours or even a day early, so you can unpack and relax a bit.

3. Upon arriving home, Thank God as a family for safety, for joy, and for creating all you’ve seen on your vacation.

See the whole “Dads and Vacations” list of tips here.

Make Note Of Notables And Get Closure

When we’re on the road and we cross over to another state, I say “Bye Minnesota!”

And my kids all say “Bye Minnesota!”

And then, Me: “Hello Wisconsin!”

And them: “Hello Wisconsin!”

This has a few benefits:

1. It gets everyone on the same page.
2. It aurally marks when you’re entering or leaving something. Sometimes these things shouldn’t go unnoticed.
3. It’s always good for a family to cheer something together.
4. It may help the kids learn geography.
5. It builds excitement.

I also do this to help myself more peacefully leave a place I love. I think, at least we can acknowlege that we’re leaving and not like we’re shaking the dust off our feet as we go:

“Bye Black Hills!”
“Bye Black Hills!”
“You Were a great place to visit!”
“You Were a great place to visit!”
“We Hope to be back in a few years!”
“We Hope to be back in a few years!”

See the whole “Dads and Vacations” list of tips here

Choose the less expensive vacation.

Or said more expandedly: If you and your kids can experience the same amount of Joy on a vacation that costs less, by all means do it.

One benefit here is that you will be less tempted to experience regret when things don’t go perfectly.

And the good news is, kids often don’t need much to experience a great deal of wonder or have a lot of fun, especially if you haven’t set them up to need it. This can be a happy truth if you are very low on funds.

When it comes to extravagant trips, don’t start them young.

See the whole “Dads and Vacations” list of tips here

It’s the Journey AND the destination.

Enjoy both of them. Let God have them both.

See the whole “Dads and Vacations” list of tips here

Don’t let the lowest moment of a trip dominate your memory of it.

. . . or your feelings about the trip while you’re in it.

Here is an idea you have to get used as you go on vacation: It is quite likely that bad things will happen on the trip. Not until Heaven are we guaranteed otherwise.

So someone may get injured, or a great attraction will be closed, or you might have car trouble or the weather will be horrid, or a fight might break out. And for a moment you might think “The trip will be ruined.”

But while I say that moments like this will likely happened, I think it is also very likely that the trip won’t actually be ruined. You’ll look back and say “That wasn’t as big a deal as I feared it was going to be.”

This is the way it should be. Don’t allow it to be other wise. Don’t think, “Never again – it’s not worth it if things like that might happen.”

No, instead remember the good point. The moment that were you surprised by the joy you experienced.  Focus on that.

And then thank and glorify God for it. It is all grace. Every good moment we get is Grace.

See the whole “Dads and Vacations” list of tips here

Bring them to God.*

The Chief End of your vacation is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. Try not to forget it or let your kids forget it. Every time you pray, pray that God will be glorified on your trip. Look for signs of God on your vacation. Talk about how nature points us to the splendor of heaven and being in God’s presence.

Every stop on your vacation has potential for instant object lesson material. Use it.

* Or rather, let God use you to bring your kids to Himself.

See the whole “Dads and Vacations” list of tips here