Family Meeting – Lesson 1

Welcome to your first SFP family meeting! This agenda is to help you organize your meeting and family practice session.  It includes skills to practice from the week’s lessons, plus SFP activities each person did during the week. You can print this agenda, or have it on a phone, tablet, etc. to look at during the meeting.

NOTE: We recommend you open Family Meeting Agendas on a laptop, computer or tablet during your meeting, so the whole family can follow along. Each week, during your Learn & Earn Lessons, each family member is asked to share ideas. The Family Meeting is a time to review those ideas.

We will be using these tracking sheets with your entries:

  • My Time Tracking
  • Stomping A.N.T.s Tracking Form
  • Family Meals
 

Family meeting rules:

  • Use this agenda. One person talks at a time
  • Everyone gets a chance to talk, if they want to
  • No one puts anyone down
  • Keep it short and sweet!
 

At every meeting:

  • Compliments: Say something you like about each person
  • Calendar: List activities or events each person has scheduled for the upcoming week
  • Past Business: Discuss your SFP activities progress and rewards
  • New Business: Discuss current SFP goals and practice skills
  • Value Message: Share pro-social family beliefs
  • Have Fun! Games and treats/snacks

Repeat This Week’s Power Phrase:

Daily playing one-on-one with each child and eating pleasant family meals together helps build strong and loving families.

Agenda Item #1: My Time

Review

This week you learned about how setting aside “My Time” for parents to spend with children leads to happier family relationships. 

Directions

During today’s family meeting, you will review and discuss the ideas for My Time Activities with your kids. Review their ideas for fun activities in the table below, and suggest your own ideas, and plan your times! If the table is empty, plan now for some activities.

Here is your Family printable tracking sheet for you to use in planning and practice. If you don’t have a printer you can just copy these concepts and your entries into a notebook. 

Below is the list of suggestions from your kids for My Time activities they would enjoy. You can edit them here (click “Enable Inline Edit” and then the entry you want to edit.) To add more entries during your meeting, enter them in the section below (use “Add Entry” to add new entries, then “Submit” to add them to the list.)

Tracking Sheet:

Your Family’s “My Time” Entries

Lesson: 1 min:1 mid:3 max:5

Family Member Activity Days Actions
   

Remember to click “Submit” after you have added your entries!

Agenda Item #2:
Mindfully Stomping ANTs

Review

This week you learned about Mindfulness and how you can use that skill to stomp ANTs (Automatic Negative Thoughts.) Now it is time to practice!

Directions

Scroll down to see the list of 10 “species” of ANTs to practice stomping. In your family meeting, read the “Species Name” and the example, then the TRUTH you can use to squash that ANT.

Now call on a family member to come up with their OWN example of that species and their OWN way to squash it! Use this printable form if you want to or the provided form, below:

Handout:

A.N.T. Chart

Species ANT Squash this ANT with Truth!
1. All or Nothing Thinking There’s nothing to do. There are probably lots of things to do if I think about it.
2. Always Thinking No one ever plays with me. That’s silly. I have played with lots of kids.
3. Mind Reading The teacher doesn’t like me. I don’t know that. Maybe she is just having a hard day.
4. Fortune Telling The whole class will laugh at me. I don’t know that. Maybe they will like my presentation.
5. Labeling I am stupid. Sometimes I make mistakes, but I am not stupid.
6. Focusing on the Negative My whole party was ruined by his teasing! My party was fun, except for the few minutes he was teasing.
7. Thinking with Your Feelings I feel like such a loser. How can anyone like me? I may need to change a few things; but I’m still a good person.
8. Magnifying and Minimizing I got a terrible report card. I didn’t do well in that one subject, but my other grades were good.
9. Blame It’s the teacher’s fault! I need to spend more time on my studies.
10. Guilt Beatings It is all my fault and I’m a horrible person. It was just an accident. I can do things to make it better.

You must be logged in to use this form.

Agenda Item #3: Plan Healthy Family Meals

Review

This week you learned about the importance of eating healthy family meals together. Family members had a chance to suggest meal ideas in their Activity Form. Take time now to review and edit any meal ideas. (Again, use “Add Entry” to add new entries, then “Submit” to add them to the list.)

This week you learned about the importance of eating healthy family meals together. What Day/s of the week do you plan to have family meals together?

Days we will eat a meal together:

Lesson: 8 min:1 mid:1 max:1

Display Name Where My Reminder Rewards Actions
       

Your Family’s “Family Meals” Entries

Lesson: 8 min:1 mid:1 max:1

Display Name Where My Reminder Rewards Actions
       

Directions

Read and discuss each of your family’s Family Meals tracking sheets together–do these meals all make sense for your family? Are there any additional brain-healthy dinners you all enjoy? As a family, choose a set of meals that you agree on.

Note: you can print or copy the Family Meals Tracking Sheet to use during this meeting! Or, edit the entries from online forms from the lesson activities.)

Note: If anyone, or everyone, did not bring their tracking sheets, you can add ideas during the meeting.

Family Tracking Sheet:

Lesson: 8 min:1 mid:1 max:1

Display Name Where My Reminder Rewards Actions
       

BONUS ACTIVITY: The Penny Game

THE PENNY GAME. Use this gme to become more aware of your ANTs:

Put ten pennies in your pocket every morning for a month. Every time you think a positive thought about yourself, move a penny to your “good” pocket.

If you give mind-space to any ANTs, move a penny back to the holding pocket. Try to get all ten pennies in your “good” pocket each day. Note how many you got each night. At the end of the month, reward yourself according to how well you met your goal.

This is by Richard Brozovich, Ph.D. and Linda Chase in Say Goodbye to Being Shy

Additional Resources for Lesson 1:

Read and discuss each of your family’s Family Meals tracking sheets together–do these meals all make sense for your family? Are there any additional brain-healthy dinners you all enjoy? As a family, choose a set of meals that you agree on.

Note: you can print or copy the Family Meals Tracking Sheet to use during this meeting! Or, edit the entries from online forms from the lesson activities.)

Note: If anyone, or everyone, did not bring their tracking sheets, you can add ideas during the meeting.

Family Tracking Sheet:

Your Family’s “Family Meals” Entries

Lesson: 8 min:1 mid:1 max:1

Display Name Where My Reminder Rewards Actions
       

Great job on your first family meeting! I hope everyone had fun, and that you learned something new.  Keep on learning, and practicing your new skills together. 

See the Conversation Jar info below. This a a project to do any time between now and your next family meal.  

NEXT STEPS

Happy Family Meals

The Family Conversation Jar

This activity will make your next family meal time fun, and reinforces bonds between your whole family.
Print the PDF below, or open the webpage to see instructions.  

Print Family Dinners Conversation Cards
View Family Dinners Conversation Cards
Scroll to Top