Last weekend, after putting our baby to sleep, my wife and I had a chance to watch the movie “We bought a Zoo“. It was a fun and heartwarming movie about family and adventure. There were times in the movie that we laughed. There were times my wife cried (but not me, because I am a coldhearted strong man). It was one of those movies that after you finish watching, your heart feels fuller and you are happy that you are alive.
What the movie reminded me about was how an adventure can bring a family together.
“We bought a Zoo” is based on a true story about a father, his 14-year old son, and 7-year old daughter (played by Maggie Elizabeth Jones, who is the cutest little girl and was the star of the movie) who are struggling to recover after the death of their wife/mother. Looking for a fresh start on life, they buy a dilapidated zoo, renovate and re-open it. The challenge of this adventure brings the family together.
Recently I met a classmate who had a real life example of this happening (not of buying a zoo, but of an adventure that is bringing his family together). He has two brothers who live in a different city and they wanted to stay in touch. So they embarked on an adventure to develop a gardening app that would warn amateur gardeners about frost. None of them had developed an app before, so this was something completely new and exciting – an adventure of sorts. Building this app together gave the three brothers a reason to meet together regularly (on video conference) and something to work together on. As a result, their relationship strengthened.
My classmate said the reason they started building the app was not to build an app, but to find a project they could work on together and grow their relationship with each other over a distance.
Families that are close don’t happen accidentally. They are built with intention and action. Going on an adventure together is one way to build great relationships with the people in your family. Why?
An adventure provides something exciting the family can work together on.
An adventure puts a family in unfamiliar situations where they learn more about each other.
An adventure creates memories the family can look back on as something they did together.
Have you ever experienced how an adventure has brought your family together? I would love to hear some of your stories. Please leave a comment and share your stories with us!
photo credit: MPD01605 via photo pin cc