 Family Life
Settle in at Reunion Springs Video
Audio/Video Script:
Settle in at Reunion Springs
Dr. Wally: "Hey! Some campers! It's the Dennis family!
Mom: "Have a seat."
Dr. Wally: "Thank you. I'd love to join you! So you're out camping?"
Dad: "Oh, we just love to come up here to Reunion Springs."
Dr. Wally: "Wow. And do you do it often?"
Dad: "We do. We camp quite a bit. We try to be real intentional about getting
up here several times a year and being intentional with the time we spend as a
family."
Dr. Wally: "Yeah. Really building it into your schedule. Is that what you
mean by being intentional?
Dad: "Absolutely! I mean being planned and scheduling those activities. I
think if we don't schedule those things, time just slips by and we find
ourselves not doing the things we had hopped to do."
Dr. Wally: "Yes. Sometimes we have good intentions but we never get around to
scheduling them and as a result, they never happen."
Dad: "That's right."
Dr. Wally: "It's important to be intentional. Now, do you do the same thing
at home? Do you bring that same spirit of planning to your home experience?"
Dad: "We try to. We have a lot of fun spaces at home. We have a tree house
that Nate and I built."
Dr. Wally: "A tree house?! Nate, do you like it? I bet it's great!"
Dad: "We have a little fire circle with benches around it. We have a
volleyball net and other things that we designed so that we can spend time
together as a family."
Dr. Wally: "So, do you sometimes gather around the fire and have a little
campfire?"
Dad: "Oh yes, including marshmallow roast and weenie roast. Absolutely."
Dr. Wally: "And have you ever slept out in that tree house with Nathan?
Dad: "Have we Nate?"
Nate: "Yep! True story!"
Dr. Wally: "So you bring that same kind of planfulness to your vacations and
to your home. What about in the community? Do you do anything to connect your kids to
not just the family but also the community?"
Mom: "We do. We like to and think it's important to go to our kids'
parent/teacher conferences. We like to connect with their teachers and make sure
we know what's going on in the schools."
Dr. Wally: "Yes. And I remember when I was a high school teacher and one of
the most important things that ever happened was when parents would come in and
maybe their child wasn't doing well in my class but when I sat down to talk with
them and saw how much they loved that kid, boy it made me as a teacher really
want to help that kid and make sure they got the best help and education they
could."
Dad: "I think in addition to connecting to our community, we can
also connect to
our ancestors or family history. We find that's really meaningful to our family.
In fact Nathan's name comes from two of our great-great ancestors who happen to
come across on the same ship and lived as next door neighbors to each other."
Dr. Wally: "So your family tied back even way back then, huh?"
Dad: "It sure did!"
Dr. Wally: "And isn't it amazing that as we study these people who are our
forbearers we get the sense of connection across time don't we."
Dad: "And a sense of expectations as to what we can live by."
Dr. Wally: "No in addition, at least based on what I know about your family,
it seems like you get involved in community service too. Is that right?"
Mom: "We do. One of our favorite things to do is in the winter months, we get
together with other people in our community and have a food drive. And then our
children are able to help separate the cans and give them to those in need."
Dr. Wally: "Wow. And so the kids not only know that they're connecting with
their family but they're connected to the community and the activities in the
community."
Dad: "That's right."
Dr. Wally: "Is it possible, Steve, to get too much?"
Dad: "It is. There's soccer practice, there's piano lessons, there's
homework. It's really easy to get over scheduled. What we've done in our family
is we've tried to set aside one night each week that we call our Family Night
and we don't let other things erode it away or encroach upon it."
Dr. Wally: "Yeah. You protect that so that every member of the family knows
‘We're going to be together on that night.'"
Dad: "That's right."
Dr. Wally: "That's neat. So it sounds like you've found a good way to find
balance. You do some things that you really value and you also try to make sure
you have some protected time."
Dad: "We do. I really think that the key to being a parent is to try to live
a good life yourself and then spend enough time with your family that you'll rub
off on them."
Dr. Wally: "Ahh. So be a good person yourself and spend enough time to rub
off. There's the two parts. That's great! It looks like you're in the process of
doing it right now!"
Dad: "We sure are!"
Dr. Wally: "It's sure great to see you! Have a great campout!"
Dad: "Thank you! Bye!"
Dr. Wally: "Good bye."
Nate: "See you later alligator."
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