Disclosure: I am using this blog post to do a bit of "market research."
One of my goals for 2011 was to tackle the craziness that is our meal times. Now we have three children under the age of 5 and I realize that some craziness is just to be expected, but we had fallen into a rut of Jeremy and I trying to "catch up" a bit and our children eating their food w/ lighting speed and requesting more food before we barely had taken a bite (or I had sat down for that matter.) This was not the Norman Rockwellesque picture I had of family dinner time.
So, I came up with a general rhythm for each day's meals.
Breakfast- Review Family Quest Bible Verse/Books of the Bible
Read our morning Bible story & choose a christmas card photo to pray for.
(This meal has had the most success & challenges with Faith's recent aversion to getting dressed in the morning)
Lunch-
Brain Quest Questions/Sight Word Flash Cards
My kids received these for Christmas and love doing "Amanda the Panda" questions. I'm solo on this meal so this gives us something to break up the day.
Dinner-
Family Dinner Question
Each night Jeremy or I throw out a question to answer. We take turns answering the question and then talk about what we think Titus' answer would be. Our kids are LOVING this. They always remind us and make sure we don't forget.
In order to help us I have a basket that we keep our devotional book, Christmas photos, Brain Quest/Flashcards, and our Family Quest Bingo/Bringing it Home activity sheet. That way everything we need is right there.
However, so far we have just been making the diner questions up "on the spot." Which isn't working the greatest so I figured it was time to purchase a set of creative questions.
(This is where the market research comes in... :)
When I had mentioned this in another post my friend Kristina had suggested I make my own set and make it available for purchase. I'm not sure how serious she was, but it got me to thinking. I thought I could totally do that & it would be another great way to earn money for our adoption fund!
So...what do you think?
-Would you purchase a set of creative questions to spur conversation at your dinner table?
-Would you prefer a set of cards in a deck that you could keep in order or strips in a jar that could be drawn out?
-What price point would you be willing to pay knowing the money went to a good cause? (I was thinking $10-15 for 350-500 questions)
-Is this something you would consider purchasing as a gift for another family/couple?
-Would you be interested in a "Date Night" set?
Jeremy and I also have a set of cards we use for our date nights. I purchased them on clearance after Valentine's day. We find them helpful for keeping our dates more romantic and not end up as "team meetings." But, I've always wanted to make our own set as we occasionally have to sift through the inappropriate questions from the set I purchased (don't ask.)
-Would you think, "I could totally do that myself for free" or would you think, "This will help the Humiston's adopt and its way easier than thinking up all those questions myself."
I know these types of sets are readily available on the Internet but I thought that the personalization and assurance that they would be faith friendly might influence someone's decision to purchase one from me. And one of my goals is that the "fundraising" we do for our adoption would not only benefit us, but also have other positive impacts for the kingdom (like getting family's talking & growing closer).
If you have feedback feel free to leave a comment on my blog or over at Facebook. Or you can send me an e-mail at jenniferhumiston@hotmail.com
I'm looking forward to hearing what you think!
