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Tuesday, June 08, 2010

Focusing on Family

“The way we become more human is by paying attention to each other,” he said. “It shows how much you care.”  This is the second to last paragraph of yesterday’s New York Times article, ”Hooked on Gadgets, and Paying a Mental Price” but, you may not get to it if you are too distracted by multitasking. However, it is a simple statement that gets to the heart of the article and the essence of This World: The Values Network’s signature imitative, Turn Friday Night Into Family Night (TFNFN).

According to Rabbi Shmuley, “There have always been pulls away from ones core family but nowadays, with the advent of media at our fingertips, it takes more of a conscious effort to focus on our families. Today’s New York Times article and academic research supports what I saw when traveling the country with my show, Shalom in the Home—families that want their children to be home but have lost the ability to manifest this,” said Shmuley.

The initiative promotes a 2/2/2 theme that is simple and can be embraced even by those families that do not have significant time together. The 2/2/2 theme represents two hours of uninterrupted time with no distractions of cell phones, TV, or any other disruptions, encouraging parents to give their children one night a week where they are focused on them, inviting at least two guests and selecting two topics to discuss with your family and guests at the table. TFNFN encourages children to invite guests over. This teaches them the blessings of hospitality while giving the message that you value their presence and their friends also.

Turn Friday Night Into Family Night is an inclusive, national initiative that looks to spread the Jewish value of love of family to all corners of the country. TFNFN hopes to inspire people nationwide to come together to embrace their “family” and spend quality time together irrespective of race, creed, color, religion, sexual orientation or marital status.

“There have always been distractions, and that will continue, but making the choice to place family first will allow everyone to put other non-essential things away, at least for a period of time. We need to make sure we make quality family time a priority and when we do have time together it is important to provide our children with undivided attention,” continued Shmuley.

The TFNFN initiative has celebrities like Dr. Memhet Oz, Wyclef Jean, Gayle King, Rachel Hunter, DH Hughley, Newark Mayor Cory Booker, Kathie Lee Gifford and many others, helping to spread the message through Public Service Announcement’s that can be viewed at http://www.fridayisfamily.com.

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