Like many families it was feeling like we would blink and the weekend would be over and we would all be left feeling like we were craving more weekend. No matter what we managed to do, Sunday night would leave us feeling empty somehow. We dreamed of the next weekend and it was hard to focus on the week ahead.
Weekend after weekend, no matter what we accomplished we still had this dissatisfaction with things we didn’t get to, needs still not met, feeling disconnected. I talked to other Mom friends and so many had this same issue, this longing for something…. but what?
Closure! What I discovered was that my family needed some joyful way to give our weekends closure and full as many of our emotional cups as possible! With a large family with many kids this can be difficult. We needed something relaxing and yet something the kids would find exciting too. The solution for us ended up being rather simple!
People remember the feeling of how something ends the best!
I learned long ago that endings matter! So many things can go wrong with an event or story, but as long as it ends on a happy note, people take away from the experience something positive! I am quick to remember this when friends ask for advice. Be it a disaster of a vacation, ending professional relationships, moving, or kids disappointment in sports. No matter the situation, in the end, you can save the situation and change the memory of the whole experience by playing to the emotional needs of those involved. Knowing that, we changed our Sunday night slump!
Filling Kids Emotional Cups
With 5 kids who have different love languages ranging from gifts, to touch, to quality time, to service…. we have our hands full. It is crazy how simple it was to find what works for them all. It is simply movie night! Our child who has her cup filled by gifts and gifting gets to help shop for movie night snacks and to set up for the movie and give her loved ones the food they love. The children who live on touch, hugs and cuddles get to cuddle up with parents and watch a movie feeling safe and cared for. The kids who need quality time get to feel secure in knowing they will get time to laugh and have fun and talk and enjoy the topics that come in movies, not to mention all the laughter. The child who has the love language of service knows their interests are important and time is there for them!
Why Movie Night at the end of the Weekend?
Unlike say game night, there isn’t the stress of winners and losers and having the energy to manage all the ways kids in our home game. We love game night, but it isn’t a helpful way to end the weekend. Movie night lets us puppy pile in comfy blankets and pillows, be close, relax, and laugh together. If there is any music at all we can count on the baby dancing and this makes everything in the world seem ok. The lights are low, the weekend ending, and the magic of some great writers help us end our Sunday night. The movie pushes out all the “should have done…. need to do….” and when it done, we are ready for bed and are left feeling like, no matter how the weekend went, that things are good and we can tackle what ever the week holds of us.
I don’t think movie night will work for everyone. For us though it is sacred time together and it works wonderfully to end the weekend for us feeling joyfully satisfied.
