Did you know in a family of five kids, there is 21 different relational connections between everyone? And it’s pretty easy with that many connections for a few relationships to be overlooked or underdeveloped over time. So one tip we mentioned on our IG story a few days ago and tell folks to try is schedule one on one’s between the siblings! It’s such a gift and treasured among the siblings.

The Pryor’s have been doing this for years now and they’ve found it to be so helpful in creating extremely strong bonds across the family, and fostering such a healthy team culture. Most of us who are married know that good marriages don’t just happen. And one of the best ways to help a marriage is to schedule rhythmic intentional time together (usually called date night). Why would we think sibling or family relationships should be any different? One easy way the Pryors have implemented this is to make it really sustainable is all the 1 on 1’s happen at the exact same time, Saturday morning every week. And every week rotates where each kid is assigned a different sibling or parent for a few hours to hangout, go see a movie, play a board game, go for a walk or sometimes even chat through tension or hurt they’ve felt with each other that week.

This small Saturday block of time has worked wonders against family drifting, and been so special to see the siblings connect so deeply. And for those asking when the Pryors started doing this, it was when everyone was elementary or older. And the Bethke’s don’t do this yet because of the kid’s ages, but they do schedule 1 on 1 time with each kid mostly every week and so the transition to sibling 1 on 1’s will be really easy in a few years since the precedent and rhythm is already there. What about you guys? Did you grow up in a family where you spent rhythmic intentional time with individual siblings? How’d you guys do it or what did you appreciate about it?