164: Family Date Night

When Chris and I did marriage prep and got married – we were always encouraged to make sure we had one evening when it was just us and no-one else.

On Sunday we instigated a new “Family Date Night”. I’d been all snuggled up in bed or on the sofa as I wasn’t well and when Our Sidekick and Chris arrived home from Contact Time and the tension was so thick it nearly killed me. I made Our Sidekick sit on the stairs and tell me what was going on in his head and why he was upset. I stood the other side of the living room door and got Chris to tell me what was going on in his head and why he was upset. I went back the other side and explained what Chris had said and how that affected how Our Sidekick felt. I then got them both to right a list of the things that were frustrating them. Ryan’s list was just one thing and that was solved really quickly.

Chris’s list was a little longer but it was good to talk about it all. One of the things that came out of it was the lack of family time. We tried to go to the Kite Festival last weekend together but it didn’t go to plan and we ended up coming home.

Therefore we instigated a new family date night. Obviously some days out will have to be on a Saturday instead but while Chris’s working hours at The Fountain haven’t settled down Sunday evening is a slot in the week that we can make sure we’re all on the right track before heading into the next week head first.

On Tuesday after It’s A Knockout, we went to the kite stand and bought a kite. While Our Sidekick went to collect his toothbrush from a friend’s house (this had caused part of Our Sidekick’s one frustration on his list). We headed to the small grassy area near our house to get the kite ready. This area tends to be far too windy to be able to use our remote helicopter so we decided a kite was a better choice. Well we got outside and set up the kite and the wind dropped. Chris kept saying we should go back inside because there wasn’t enough wind but I was like “WE WILL TRY IT JUST ONE MORE TIME IN CASE!!! Okay so Chris won that one as it didn’t work. We ended up heading back inside but we managed to build the kite without falling out which was a good thing.

We headed back home and Our Sidekick returned home with his toothbrush in hand. Because of the lack of kite flying we got out some board games and played one called Hare and Tortoise (or something like that!). The last few times I’ve not really kept up with how to play it but I managed to this time and although I came in third I was pretty close behind Our Sidekick who came in second.

Until last night when nerves were a little frayed I was feeling like we were all closer – clearly Family Date Nights are good and are here to stay. Bring on this weekend!!