Sunday... "A Day of Rest"?

Question: How do you make a nice meal for your family on Sunday and not have it take your Sunday? When we get home from church I feed my kids a light snack and then I prepare the meal that we will eat around 5:00 to 6:00. I usually try to do easy meals but yet I feel that I am in the kitchen all day. I even get my kids to help but it doesn't cut the time down. By the time I clean up from the morning dishes and snack, then I cook the main dinner and then clean up from that, I feel that I do not have a "day of rest". Any insights????

Thanks for your help, M

Answer: While every family is different, many family’s Sunday meal preparations take up a good chunk of Sunday and seemed to distract from family time together. I would suggest several ideas to change this:

Cook a crock pot meal on weekday evening which you double in size. Then use the leftovers for Sunday’s needs. For instance, make up a nice roast beef stew in the crock pot, serve it on Thursday evening, and then heat it again in the crock pot Sunday afternoon and serve it again to minimize Sunday meal preparations.

Cook Breakfast for Dinner on Sunday. This method is particularly useful in a busy family’s life because it is easy, short, and fun. You might rotate pancakes, waffles, German pancakes, and French toast through the four Sundays of the month with pre-cooked bacon and/or sausage, fresh fruit (prepared on Saturday), and oven-baked hash browns.

Most importantly, don’t be a maid on Sunday. It is useful to include your spouse, when he is home, in the meal preparations and cleanup as this example is very useful to encourage your children to also help. If he does something to help prepare and something to help clean up, then each child could also do somethings before and after so lighten your load.

Take care now, M

Any questions, please write me at marie@houseoforder.com

Parenting Wisdom From Marie Ricks.

Question: My son said he doesn't want to write a journal any more because as he's getting older he's got more "bad things" or "challenges" and his days aren't always sunny. He said he doesn't want to write about things that "s*ck" and he doesn't want to remember them either. I've talked with him, but he's very stubborn. Any ideas? D

Answer: Whenever our children are asked to keep a commandment of the Lord several things must be in place for success.

1) One or both parents must be modeling the behavior in front of the child, particularly the father. Is this happening?

2) There must be a time set aside for keeping the commandment, in this case journal writing, aside from any other conflicts or distractions (friends, TV, play). For example, Sunday between meetings is a good time for journal writing, especially if all journal writers received an incentive to do so, maybe dessert for dinner.

3) A family home evening teaching this gospel principle, its purpose, and the value of journaling by leaders like Wilford Woodruff and Spencer W. Kimball can help set a pattern of Church leadership. You might have each of your children in charge of learning about which of our modern prophets kept journals and telling their story as part of this family home evening.

You might look for a local journalist. If your son wants to see our journals, he is welcome to visit. I have kept a daily journal since 1979 when President Spencer W. Kimball asked us to begin writing the events of our days and the spiritual experiences of our life. It is one of the best decisions I ever made because my life and experiences will last long past my time for it is all written down. Such a visit might impress a young person to also keep a journal.

Take care now, M