Time to FINK about it
Posted on
Last weekend I had the genuine pleasure of attending a FINK trainers workshop. For those of you that havent heard of FINK before, it stands for Family Interaction Nutures Kids.
I have admired the FINK products for a while as they are a simple concept that does exactly what it says on the tin. In their words, "FINK creates stress free, quality family time" and isnt that what we all aspire to?
I was horrified to learn that the UK is currently experiencing a rise in the number of children with speech difficulties: in some areas over 50% of children have "delayed" or "impaired" language skills due to social and environmental factors. Experts are blaming the growing problem on the death of conversation in the home with family mealtimes on the decline and television viewing on the increase.
This is not a generalisation or an attack on parents (god only knows that sometimes I am relieved for the "assistance" of the TV), especially when I like to think that our family talk about our day and how we are but are we always asking the same things?
So we tried the family edition conversation cards whilst out with my parents for a family meal. The results were amazing!
My 5 year old thought they were huge fun, getting everyone picking colours and enjoying reading the questions. Some of them thought provoking, some amusing and some quirky but needless to say got us all involved and all talking, so much so that she moaned when the food arrived! Needless to say our food was gobbled up and we were back to the questions! I think we will definately be taking the Travel Edition on holiday!
Fink say that "Good communication helps families navigate difficult times too, along with creating confident, sociable children!" It almost sounds too simple and too easy but as we found it really is.
My only problem now, is finding delicious interesting meals, to hold their attention as much as the cards!!
Add a comment: