Weekly Top 5
Most kids, when they’re young, love to have mom and dad sit down and really appreciate play and media with them. They naturally want to share their love for TV shows, toys, music, superheroes, and outdoor discoveries. They might even start out by loving some of your music or sports or cable channels. My niece shared an avid interest in the Food Network with her parents until she approached middle school.
Eventually, though, many kids begin to express their independence by becoming fans of media and hobbies far removed from their parents’ interests. Sometimes, it’s about rebellion. Often, though, it’s just a healthy development of individual tastes.
This month’s activity is an idea to keep a point of connection between yours and your kids’ interests in media (or other areas) without necessarily forcing any of you to pretend to enjoy or own the other’s tastes.
Try This: Tell your family you’re going to have a weekly Top 5 Tuesday (or Saturday morning or Sunday lunch or whatever works best). For five weeks, each member of the family can pick his or her current Top 5 favorites in a given category and bring the list to share with the family. All can bring samples (not entire songs or movies, etc.) to share, as well, if it fits the category.
Emphasize to your family that the point of this is to understand and appreciate each other’s interests—not to review or attack or criticize what a sibling or parent is into at the moment. (Be sure to take that advice yourself! If any of your children’s choices concern you for moral or spiritual reasons, consider finding another time to approach that with them if it can wait.)
Categories might include any of the following, but get creative if some area of interest fits your family better.
- Top 5 Songs
- Top 5 TV Shows
- Top 5 Foods
- Top 5 Sports Stars
- Top 5 Moments in Family History
- Top 5 Big Wishes
- Top 5 Fictional Characters
- Top 5 Social Networking/Web Sites
- Top 5 Vacation Destinations
- Top 5 Music Artists or Bands
- Top 5 Movies
- Top 5 Books
- Top 5 Family Pets
- Top 5 Video Games
The major benefit with this activity is simply to show and tell and connect. Plan to ask questions about why things made their lists—and why other things didn’t. Encourage each other to be journalists getting to know fellow family members by their tastes and interests.
The exercise might present some broad teachable moments, as well. Don’t be afraid to mention how much God loves music (e.g., look at what a big part it will play in heaven) or the idea that Jesus used fictional stories to communicate important ideas. God also cares about what we enjoy. Many of these things are gifts from Him. (See James 1:17.)
Let your family see that although you sometimes need to protect them from forms of media that might be harmful, you value arts, culture, music, experiences, sports, and their passion for all of those things.
Tom Tucker on Apr 09, 2009 said...
Great for long trips to pass the time.