My reply: “Cool. Glad you like that part. You know, I remember sitting through some really lame and boring filmstrip presentations (beep!) my step-dad showed us for FHE as a kid. I remember that even though we grumbled, rolled our eyes, complained and sighed that it mattered to him. I also knew we mattered to him. Those things as we get older seem to meld together in a way that I know for me at least helped shape my identity and the things I now care about that I didn’t then.

“Also, just recently my 15 yo daughty shared something with me she had learned at school “because I know you care about things like this.” Well, I didn’t know she knew I cared about those things. I thought she wasn’t listening. Lesson learned. Kids pay closer attention than we give them credit for.”

My reply: “Ha! Well, as you can imagine I got the exact same response. :-) The only difference was I didn’t “suggest” it, but just told them that was what we were doing for FHE. Their feedback afterwards as we processed it wasn’t overly enthusiastic, but they each circled things and each shared one or two quotes that they thought were interesting. Kara and I expounded a bit further and shared some examples and experiences. I mostly felt it was just important that they were exposed to the full thing and that they knew it was important and that such things mattered to their father. That part they’ll at least remember.

Oh, and my kids ages are 10, 12, 15, 17. Boy, girl, girl, boy.