You made it! Another school year has come and gone. Just remembering all the early mornings, the never ending projects, parent meetings, and packing school lunches makes me tired! Making it through the school year is such an accomplishment for families and totally worth taking the time to evaluate and celebrate! As a mom of 3 teenagers, I’m learning more and more how important it is to be intentional about creating space to evaluate past seasons and celebrate all that was accomplished. So before you jump into summer, pick a day to sit down with your family to remember all the awesome things that happened this past school year and celebrate all the wins together! For my family, we’ll pick a day during the first week of June and we’ll be enjoying our favorite family meal, which is breakfast for dinner (I’ve included a link for our favorite pancake recipe).
To help get you started we have some fun suggestions and ideas on how to celebrate, which includes some conversation starters, great questions to ask your kids, and even a way to wrap it all up! Our hope for you is that this will be a tradition your family will enjoy year after year!
Martha Stewart’s Best Buttermilk Pancakes
For El Paso,
Courtney Neria
Here’s an article that will help you celebrate!
BEFORE THE CELEBRATION:
- Confirm a time and date that everyone can get together for about an hour. Put a reminder in a central location—like on the fridge or by the home computer.
- Make the celebration a little more enticing by offering everyone’s favorite snack. Cupcakes usually draw a crowd!
- Consider adding some decorations if you’re celebrating at home—a few streamers, some noise makers, and if you’re extra brave, some silly string.
- Prepare some fun awards beforehand. You can even print out certificates or buy objects that represent the award. For example, “The No Cavities Award” would get a new toothbrush. Or the “New Bike Rider Award” would get a bike horn.
AT THE CELEBRATION:
- Start with your fun awards. Take time to share funny stories that go with the awards. End by taking a family selfie with your awards and posting it to social media.
- Transition to the “Family Wins Celebration” portion by asking the following questions about the school year. Keep track of the answers. You may want them later. What’s one new thing you learned?
- What’s one new skill you gained?
- What’s an area you improved in?
- What’s one way you grew in character?
- What’s one way you grew in your faith?
- What’s one thing you’re really proud of from this school year?
- What’s your favorite friend-related memory?
- What’s your favorite family-related memory?
- What are some things we could do next school year to make it even better than this last one?
- After you’re finished with your questions, give each family member a sincere compliment, telling them some of the wins you’ve noticed.
- End your time together by spending a few minutes in prayer, thanking God for the past year, and praying for an awesome, safe, and connected summer.
AFTER THE CELEBRATION:
- Record some of the family-related answers in a creative way. Maybe on a chalkboard, a whiteboard, poster, cardstock—whatever you have on-hand.
- Post this in a central location so you can celebrate the wins all summer long.
- Write each person’s wins on a separate piece of paper or sticky-note and put it somewhere in their room or bathroom, where they’ll see it every day.
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