Our very first week of our #38Minutes Challenge is complete! I feel like we should get a gold star or something… but the truth is we still have a long way to go 😉 But, seriously this is already going MUCH BETTER than I had anticipated. The kids are noticeably in better moods around the house (as are we, their parents), they have actually broken out the board games and started playing together WITHOUT FIGHTING on their own aside from the challenge. As a family, we have consumed much less time on our devices and we have laughed more this week than we have in a LOOOONG time. Not sure what our #38Minutes Challenge is? Learn more about it in this post here. Ready to join us and take the One Month Challenge with your family? You can find that right here.

#38Minutes Family Fun Challenge- Week 1

Embarking on this challenge was something that just made sense to us. We were so fed up with the lack of quality time we were getting with our kids in this technology-obsessed world when we were not traveling. Life’s daily demands were consuming all of our time. Camden heading to high school, and the reality that we only have 4 years left with him under our roof, definitely brought things into perspective. Our hopes were by committing to a simple #38Minutes a day of extreme family fun (family challenges, family games, family dinners, and family travel) we would boost the amount of happiness in our house and create more memories with our kids before they move on to college. What I didn’t anticipate was how by focusing on the family without allowing any distractions for a full #38Minutes we would actually start to change our habits and chose to spend more time away from our devices altogether outside of the #38Minutes commitment.

Watch this week’s videos with your kids and don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE to our channel so you don’t miss our next Family Fun Challenge Videos. We hope you enjoy them and are inspired to JOIN US and commit to one day a week for one month. Learn more about how to join us right here.

Monday’s Video- An introduction to our #38Minutes Challenge

Wednesday’s Video- Egg Wars (Egg Roulette) Challenge (THIS ONE IS MESSY)

Friday’s Video- Giant Water Balloon Explosion

Travel Video- 5 Reasons Kids Will Love Tempe AZ

This Week’s Wins

• The entire family has been in fantastic moods all week long.
• We have laughed more than we have together in a long time.
• The kids have been spontaneously playing together outside the required #38Minutes challenge period.
• Less sibling arguments.
• Better teamwork, especially when it comes to cleaning things up and helping with household chores. (BIG WIN for me!!)
• As a mom, I feel like the kids are seeing much more of my fun side = less mom guilt!
• It has brought my husband and me closer together as well.
• We have done things, VERY MESSY THINGS, that I normally would never allow, and in turn, the kids have been super helpful when it comes to cleaning up around the house.
• I feel like our challenges are working really well when it comes to bonding as a family and especially with the relationship that Shea and I share. Our relationship has always been more of a struggle (as is the case with many adoptive families) but him getting to see me be more silly and carefree is a good thing I think.

This Week’s Challenges

• We realized that we need to be better prepared and plan out the challenges and punishments beforehand to make sure that we have enough time to complete them. Shooting for a full hour with set up and clean up.
• Getting the kids to come up with challenges is tough. They enjoy playing the games and participating in the challenges but they don’t love the planning so much.

Tips

• The #1 question I was asked this week on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube was how in the world we cleaned up all the messes, we did have some crazy messy challenges this week, especially the Egg Wars. I am HAPPY to report that the big kids and my husband were a tremendous help when it came to set up and clean up. They enjoy doing the challenges so much they are totally willing to have to help in that aspect. This is something I really hadn’t thought much about, whoops, and I was very pleased that the kids pitched in. *ProTip- talk to your family about clean up before the challenge begins and get them to agree to help. Trust me they will be SO excited about the challenge they will have no problem cleaning up.
• Invest in additional cleaning supplies, a waterproof tablecloth, and aprons if you plan on doing some of the messier challenges. We went through A LOT of cleaning supplies this week!
• Another tip I have is to add punishments to the losing team. This really helped lure the older kids into participating.

We hope you follow our challenges this week and stay tuned for next week’s recap. Thank you!!!

What family activities does your family enjoy doing together?

You may enjoy one of these related posts–

• Reasons Why We Travel
• How I Became a Happy Mom
• I am NOT Mom Enough, and I’m Okay With That!

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Mama Munchkin

Amber is not only the dynamic CEO and founder of our team but also a dedicated mother of six and savvy entrepreneur. Her extensive travels with her family have not only created lasting memories but have also led to their tight-knit bonds. Helping you bring your family closer together and finding community with all of you is what gets her out of bed everyday (although her toddler plays a role in this as well).

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