A few months ago I was given a copy of 52 Creative Family Time Experiences by Timothy Smith and asked to read and review it. It’s been years since I’ve done a book report. But to be honest with you, I always loved doing them. I LOVE to read! And I love to tell people about the book I’ve just read. Unfortunately, none of the rest of my family shares my passion – except maybe Cameron and he’s only now getting to the age where he can carry on a meaningful discussion about anything other than superheros. So you can understand how excited that someone actually WANTED to hear what I thought about the book!! Here goes:
It’s not hard to figure out what the book is about. The title and tagline say it all – 52 Creative Family Time Experiences: Fun Ways to Bring Faith Home. Smith says the purpose of the book is to “train parents to have formal and informal conversations and experiences with their children about faith.” Now I’ve read many books that talk about the importance of family devotions. Those books are usually full of reasons why you should be doing family devotions, what benefits you’ll experience, and even how to go about doing them. But the idea can still be daunting.
This book doesn’t spend too much time giving you the why but instead focuses on the how (and isn’t that the hardest part anyway?). Smith gives you everything you need to dive right in and start having devotional times with your family. He doesn’t expect you to conduct hour long devotions complete with long Scripture readings and worship music. Instead, he gives you fun experiences that can be completed in as little as 20 minutes. And he gives plenty of options for how often to have these formal times together ranging from weekly to monthly to holidays only. This isn’t an all or nothing type of plan!!
Some of the experiences suggested include visits to the park or other family attractions. Some suggest watching a movie together. Most of the experiences require just a few supplies, most of which you have laying around the house. One of my favorite parts of the book is that you could literally pick it up and prepare a family experience in just a few minutes. No need to run to the store and spend a bunch of money on craft supplies, etc.!
I think you’re target age range is early elementary school, but there are suggestions for modifying each activity for preschoolers and teenagers. Since my kids are older now I read the book thinking about how they would react. I could probably get away with a few of the activities if everyone was in the right mood, but they are a bit on the cheesy side for teens. Younger kids would love it though!
Read through the first few pages to get a good background on the idea of family devotions. Then flip to the back of the book and read the Conclusion (I think he gives a better understanding of the importance of what’s happening in the Conclusion than in the first few chapters). Then pick a suggested experience and dive right in. Within a few minutes of purchasing the book you could be well on your way to passing your faith on to your kids…or grandkids….or neighbor kids….or church kids.
Michelle Suarez 