Our modern-day families are struggling with a lack of inter-family camaraderie.
There is a clarion call to us as parents to build effective communications with our children early in life.
A disconnect in family communications is prevalent.
Hundreds of cable channels, a TV in many rooms of the home, cell phones, internet and on and on.
The burning question is how do we weed through this barrier in our families? While pondering this question, my mind goes back to my own childhood.
I cherish the memory of the family camping trips.
As soon as Dad stopped at the campsite, my brother and I exploded out of the camper and began gathering rocks to build a fire pit.
We weren't much help in unloading the supplies, leveling the camper or any of those, unimportant, things.
Dad, in his infinite wisdom would leave us to our quest.
After all, in our minds, the fire pit was the most important part of a campsite.
The evening was complete, once the fire pit outside under the stars was blazing and the whole family was enjoying the flickering awesomeness of the campfire.
We poked the fire and poked fun at each other.
Dad told stories of his childhood hunting and camping trips.
We told jokes and laughed until our sides ached.
Most of all, we talked to one another without any of life's distractions.
Fire has been used for thousands of years to communicate.
The ancient Chinese armies would signal impending attacks with fire from tower to tower along the Great Wall.
The Greek used a complex system of alphabetic smoke signals to communicate.
Similarly, the North American Indians used smoke signals to convey their status over long distances among the tribes.
It seems that fire and communication go hand in hand.
We must start talking to each other face to face.
This will require much more time and space than life freely allows.
We must consciously and deliberately create this time and space.
Ironically, there is an opportunity to use fire in effective family communications.
Why not put a fire pit outside on the patio.
A bonfire pit can effectively be the focal point, the hub in the social wheel of our families.
Fire is intriguing to all ages.
There is something magical in watching the flames in a bonfire pit lap up piles of wood.
We don't necessarily understanding how it works but witness it nonetheless right before our eyes.
I certainly miss those camping trips and even miss the quality time with my brother building the fire pit.
Understandably, we can't load up the family and go camping as often as we wish.
We can bring the campfire home.
A simple fire pit outside on the patio can provide hours of quality time.
We need a time and a space that is set aside specifically for quality family interaction.
We can effectively create this ritual around a fire pit outside on the patio.
Doing so when our children are young can establish a long-lasting bond among us.
Kids will eventually all go through the quirkiness of being a teenager.
Our deliberate effort to enforce open dialog from early childhood, can only help during these adolescent years.
Lets' get a fire pit outside and build a fire in our family's communications.