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Another Perspective
Family Night
Once again, New Jersey shows the way.
Tuesday the public school teachers of Madison, New Jersey, were told to belay all homework assignments for the next day. After-school sports activities, practices, games, whatever, were shortened in order to get everybody home by 5 pm. Was it a public emergency? Well, in a way it was. It was “Family Night.”
By e-mail to the parents’ homes the schools declared it to be “Family Night,” which meant a turn-off of all the electronic devices that occupy nearly all family members even when they are all home together. The idea was to set aside this night to chat, see a movie together, or do something in concert, an activity that so many families no longer engage.
Somebody says the idea for that evening originated in Connecticut schools, but it doesn’t matter where the idea originated. A return to family seemed a novel and original idea, especially when it was being promoted by the schools which in many cases have become substitutes for families.
The rarity of such a night bespeaks the powerful need for a return to those olden times when the most signal event of a child’s, or for that matter, an adult’s life, was the time when all the family members got together and either did something as a unit, or just talked.
These days, adults would be surprised to learn what a child is thinking and the child would also be surprised at how much a parent knows. It is not too much to believe that the strength of the nation is centered not in political parties, civic organizations, or armed forces, but rather in that now-ignored unit, the family.
So, here’s to more “Family Nights” and the restoration of a tradition — looking at one another, and talking.
About the Author
Reid Collins is a former CBS and CNN news correspondent.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (17) | Leave a comment
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Appleby| 3.11.11 @ 6:42AM
Unfortunately, if anybody is actually adhering to this, the families are all talking about Charlie Sheen.
Missouri David| 3.12.11 @ 8:48PM
'T'is perfectly easy to be a cynic! O.Wilde
Having left the roman church to go to Bible Thumpin' Bible study with my wife and home-schooled two boys at Southern Bapt., I can only reflect that it was this kind of attempt at decency that has so blessed this country as the greatest ever in the history of mankind. We need Jesus in our lives, to be right with our self. Thanks and Merry Christmas
Brian Mc| 3.11.11 @ 8:39AM
In the summertime our mother, whose sole responsibility was to raise five decent citizens without the assistance of a husband who'd abandoned the family, would send us out the door, once a week, to the bookmobile. It parked about a mile away in the parking lot of the local hardware store. It was air-conditioned and as we wandered inside and browsed the offerings found within, we'd choose a few, take a few more cool breaths and head home through the muggy heat.
No air conditioning awaited our return home. We'd plop down on the dining room floor in the breeze created by the window fan and yes, READ! That was our lot for at least an hour as we heard our playmates cavorting out the window beyond the drone of the fan. It was a small price to pay and by the next week, we were through our collections and on our way back to that mobile library...ready for the next chapter that awaited us within the cool confines of the bookmobile. I thank God for my mother, and the time period that had no inkling of what digital games were.
jomo2009| 3.11.11 @ 11:51AM
Ah, the bookmobile. That brings back memories.
Eager Reader| 3.11.11 @ 1:24PM
Me too. I haven't thought about that in decades! My Mom used to read to me as far back as I could remember and she made the stories she read so interesting so that I wanted to read at a very young age. It's no wonder I aced reading and spelling and English in school. (Other subjects not so much). The bookmobile was one really neat thing to happen in our little town. It parked right in the lot of the playground at our elementary school, just a small walk away from home. My book collection just began there and has continued to grow ever since, I have probably around 300 books in my home now. Do they have bookmobiles now? Wouldn't it be wonderful to bring them back?
Now there's a great idea for someone who has a little bit cash and a trailer. If I could, I'd do it!
JimH| 3.11.11 @ 9:06AM
I guess I am being over concerned, but while this is a laudable goal, I am not entirely comfortable with the government trying to tell parents how to spend time with their kids at home.
Anastasia Mather| 3.11.11 @ 9:28AM
It's not like the police were sent out to enforce this.
JimH| 3.11.11 @ 9:53AM
As I said, I agree with the message. I just wish that first; the schools would get their own house in order. And second; any sort of Nanny state type advice rubs me the wrong way. I don’t need the gummint, no matter how well intentioned telling me to use less salt and eat my vegetables.
Appleby| 3.11.11 @ 2:58PM
Yet.
Petronius| 3.11.11 @ 11:25AM
Great idea. We might as well play Scrabble while the powers that be bring us more economic ruin. In any case, never attend a family gathering without the current edition of Jayne's Fighting Relatives.
Pelligrino| 3.12.11 @ 4:26AM
If this is to become a NJ institution, scrap the movie. NO DVDs (or VHS tapes) or TV.
Rather: A board game, chinese checkers, Risk, Clue, Life, Monopoly, Pictionary, Scategories, and, yes (as mentioned above), Scrabble.
All these games create conversation in the home between siblings and the parents. And they're fun.
The fundamental rule: If it takes electricity or batteries, not permitted.
I would encourage smaller families or single parent families to team up with others.
Movies and TV are for dullards. Moreover, they do not promote the interaction/discussion/debate/rule resolving that MUST take place for this to be productive time -- for family time game night.
The central thesis is correct: Our nation is only as strong as our homes & families.
tom h| 3.12.11 @ 12:57PM
I agree with Jim H. Although the intentions are good, it sounds like something Nanny Bloomberg would enforce. It is sad when we have to actually remind our families that they need to spend time together. People rarely change. The families that understand the importance of family time are already spending time together and the crappy parents that don't probably got a babysitter that night and went clubbing. These are the days of our lives
vladdy| 3.13.11 @ 6:43PM
Not the schools' business. It may or may not be a convenient night to be doing this. Kids may be at Aunt Kate's for the evening, while Mom and Dad work, or whatever...Good idea, wrong way to "institute" it. Schools should not put pressure on families this way.
No bookmoble in our small town, but a gorgeous, old Carnegie library with lions out front. I'd ride my bike the 6-8 bocks , carry the maximum number of books home in the basket, and spend the next few hours in the back-yard mulberry tree, reading.
Until I was old enough that mom would let me borrow her adult card (still a few years young to get my own), I could only get 4 books at a time. I remember once reading them all and heading back for more that day, with the library scolding me for being a nuisance, since she was sure I hadn't read all those books already. Geez, they were kiddie books, and I had!
Anybody else remember those great, cloth-bound pre-teen bios about the youths of famous Americans? "Young Abraham Lincoln," "Young Betsy Ross," "Young Robert E. Lee"...those were great!
So discouraging to hear parents say "I can't make him read." (Almost as bad as "I can't make him do anything,")
Occam's Tool| 3.13.11 @ 9:51PM
Sorry, but there are books for first graders showing closeups of the M-1A2 Abrams. ("This is what a loader does...") Any kid can be properly encouraged to read.
Creative Recreation | 8.11.11 @ 1:44AM
is good