Family Time with a Popcorn and Movie Night with Netflix

Family is important. My husband and I work hard to make sure that our kids know that their siblings come first – before friends. We model this by showing the kids that family comes first for us, too – before our own friends.

For better or for worse, the people in our homes need to matter most. And our kids need to know and respect that. There are lots of ways to help them understand that family relationships are important, but the most important is to set up an family culture of love, kindness, and encouragement – and have definite consequences for when your children forget to love on their family members.

Here’s the thing – siblings fight. Mom gets frustrated and loses her temper. Dad has a rough day at work and snaps at every little thing when he gets home. We’re not perfect people. We’re human and flawed.

And that’s why it’s important to set expectations, outline consequences, and regularly teach our children how to treat others – starting at home.

We started our teaching by developing a family mission statement and simple rules for how we live our days. Then, we set consequences and stick with them. Our kids know what we expect  — up front – and so we let the mission, rules, and consequences speak for themselves. “You chose to be rude to your sister, so you’ve chosen to earn an extra chore.”

Kids need constant reminders, though, and I don’t want mine to be reminded only when they’ve made the wrong choices, so we try to work in discussions as often as we can. Our favorite way to do this is to have weekly family nights and celebrations.

We love popping big bowls of popcorn, curling up on the couch together, and spending our family time watching shows and movies together from Netflix. It’s our favorite way to spend family time.

Do you love to have family movie nights, too? Here are some Netflix show suggestions for your next evening together:

For your little kids:

• Lily’s Driftwood Bay
• The Tigger Movie
• Guess How Much I Love You: S1E5 Big Like You
• Angelina Ballerina: Superstar Sisters

For your big kids:

• Crash & Bernstein
• Life with Boys
• Spy Kids
• Russell Madness

Tell me in the comments — Do you have any favorite Netflix shows or movies to watch on Family night?

I am a member of the Netflix #StreamTeam which means I get to share how we use Netflix in our home each month with you — all thoughts are my own, though, and we were using Netflix long before we joined the StreamTeam. 

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Colleen Kessler

Colleen is an explorer, tinkerer, educator, writer, creator, and a passionate advocate for the needs of gifted and twice-exceptional children. She has a B.S. in elementary education, a M.Ed. in gifted studies, is a sought-after national speaker and educational consultant, and is the founder of the popular blog and podcast Raising Lifelong Learners, as well as Raising Poppies, a community of support for parents of gifted children. She lives in northeast Ohio with her four bright and quirky kiddos, patient husband, and ever-changing collection of small reptiles, mammals, and insects.

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