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The Family Board Meeting: You Have 18 Summers to Create Lasting Connection with Your Children
Discover three simple steps to create a lasting connection with your children.
If you could do one thing that you knew would dramatically strengthen your family in just a few hours, would you do it?
That's the question we pose in the Family Board Meeting, the simple guide to reconnecting with your children that has spread around the globe.
Discover the elegant and powerful strategy that promises to:
*Connect you more deeply with your children
*Reduce "screen sucking" and device dependence
*Make each child in your family feel important and unique
*Help you feel more open and authentic with your children
*Increase your happiness at home
*Building an enduring family legacy of connection and memories
The Family Board Meeting is a carefully designed, easy-to-follow guide to creating quality time with your children. It takes only minutes to plan your first Board Meeting... and it's guaranteed to be a ton of fun for both you and your child!
Welcome to the most important meeting of your life.
If you could do one thing that you knew would dramatically strengthen your family in just a few hours, would you do it?
That's the question we pose in the Family Board Meeting, the simple guide to reconnecting with your children that has spread around the globe.
Discover the elegant and powerful strategy that promises to:
*Connect you more deeply with your children
*Reduce "screen sucking" and device dependence
*Make each child in your family feel important and unique
*Help you feel more open and authentic with your children
*Increase your happiness at home
*Building an enduring family legacy of connection and memories
The Family Board Meeting is a carefully designed, easy-to-follow guide to creating quality time with your children. It takes only minutes to plan your first Board Meeting... and it's guaranteed to be a ton of fun for both you and your child!
Welcome to the most important meeting of your life.
83 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 23, 2015
169 people are currently reading
689 people want to read
About the author
Jim Sheils
5 books2 followersMotivated by what he saw as one of the most tragic challenges of modern life—the disconnection of busy entrepreneurs from their families—Jim developed the Family Board Meeting process to help business owners bridge the gaps between themselves and their loved ones.
Since then, both Jim’s message and his book, the Amazon best-seller “The Family Board Meeting,” have spread around the globe. Often called “Crazy Glue” for families, Jim’s popular and simple frameworks now reach thousands of parents worldwide, helping them feel more connected with their kids, be happier at home and leave a lasting legacy.
Jim is the founder of 18 Summers, which specializes in events, workshops and private consulting for organizations looking to strengthen their family lives while still succeeding in business.
He’s an in-demand public speaker, and owns a private real estate company that has done more than $200 million in transactions.
Jim is an avid surfer and enjoys traveling with family and friends, especially his beautiful wife Jamie and their four children, Alden, Leland, Magnolia, and Sampson.
His greatest adventure to date? Donating a kidney to the best guy on the planet, his father.
To contact Jim about media appearances or speaking at your event, visit www.JimSheils.com.
Since then, both Jim’s message and his book, the Amazon best-seller “The Family Board Meeting,” have spread around the globe. Often called “Crazy Glue” for families, Jim’s popular and simple frameworks now reach thousands of parents worldwide, helping them feel more connected with their kids, be happier at home and leave a lasting legacy.
Jim is the founder of 18 Summers, which specializes in events, workshops and private consulting for organizations looking to strengthen their family lives while still succeeding in business.
He’s an in-demand public speaker, and owns a private real estate company that has done more than $200 million in transactions.
Jim is an avid surfer and enjoys traveling with family and friends, especially his beautiful wife Jamie and their four children, Alden, Leland, Magnolia, and Sampson.
His greatest adventure to date? Donating a kidney to the best guy on the planet, his father.
To contact Jim about media appearances or speaking at your event, visit www.JimSheils.com.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
April 11, 2025
Great ideas and quick, easy read. Main idea is spending 4 hour (minimum) blocks of time 4 times a year with each of your children with three rules: no technology/phones, your child picks the activity, and it must be one on one. Going to try to implement the ideas in this book.
November 17, 2017
The focus of this book is on building deep parent-child relationships but could be applied to family relationships in general. Business or other professional success can often put one in a mental scarcity trap for time, leading you to spend less time with one’s children or other family members. The Family Board Meeting is a concept towards making and prioritizing consistent time to cultivate deeper family relationships. Three steps the book purposes are one on one time and not necessarily group outings, no electronics, and fun and engaging activities for at least a four hour period. The book focuses this advice in the frame of a parent with their child since I have no children, I re-framed this advice towards my relationship with my younger brother. The same amount of high importance we put towards big business meetings or key individuals we should direct towards family members we want to cultivate a deep relationship with. The book is short and I felt it lacked depth. It could have easily been a blog post and gotten a majority of the point across. Still, it’s a powerful concept that’s simple and sticks and I got value and will work on implementing this.
June 29, 2015
This is a book about having a board meeting with your kids. For the writer, the board is a surf board. It goes to show that as entrepreneurs, the most important thing in life is our relationships, especially of those close to us. That is were true wealth lies. This books makes us appreciate this and gives use the framework to create quarterly one-on-one board meetings with those we love the most, creating life long intimate bonds more powerful then any lecture or life lesson we strive to impart. Although this book focuses on parent/child relationship, it can be used with anyone we wish to connect with on a deeper level.
After reading the book, one might reflect that these are all common sense practices. The trouble is that as entrepreneurs, our vision is often focused on the success of the venture, and this brings much needed Windex so that we can see and appreciate what is right in front of our eyes.
I booked my first board meetings with each of my kids and I truly look forward to the experience.
After reading the book, one might reflect that these are all common sense practices. The trouble is that as entrepreneurs, our vision is often focused on the success of the venture, and this brings much needed Windex so that we can see and appreciate what is right in front of our eyes.
I booked my first board meetings with each of my kids and I truly look forward to the experience.
February 3, 2022
Update February 2022 (13 months of implementing this strategy): major impact on our family! Our three children over age two treasure the dates we have together. They are asking months in advance, "When is my next date with you Daddy?"
Very good. I know this is simple stuff, but how many of us are actually doing what the book proposes? I certainly haven't.
The plan outlined in the book is that you take 4 hours with each of your children in one-on-one time, 4 times per year.
Time will tell if I follow through on this!
Very good. I know this is simple stuff, but how many of us are actually doing what the book proposes? I certainly haven't.
The plan outlined in the book is that you take 4 hours with each of your children in one-on-one time, 4 times per year.
Time will tell if I follow through on this!
August 1, 2025
Never have I ever been punched in the gut & slapped around so hard by a book. But it was by far one of those most powerful & influential books I’ve ever read. Already scheduling my Board Meetings.
February 7, 2020
Essential for a healthy family relationship
The concept Jim unveils is so simple, yet so powerful. Being fully present with another person has become the hardest thing to do with all the technology that surrounds us. We get constantly distracted, which takes away from building a full trustful relationship. Jim takes us back to basics and creates a simple plan to connect again with our children. I am putting his plan in action, and you should try too. Loved this book. Thank you.
The concept Jim unveils is so simple, yet so powerful. Being fully present with another person has become the hardest thing to do with all the technology that surrounds us. We get constantly distracted, which takes away from building a full trustful relationship. Jim takes us back to basics and creates a simple plan to connect again with our children. I am putting his plan in action, and you should try too. Loved this book. Thank you.
November 15, 2020
This should have been a blog post. Also, the ridiculous entrepreneur talk (calling an outing with your kid a "board meeting") was extremely eye-roll-y to me. Still, the idea - dedicating a few solid hours of 1-on-1, electronics-free time with your kids, was valuable. Just no way in hell I'd call it a board meeting. (Also the subtitle about summers had nothing to do with the book? So that was weird.)
August 5, 2020
Good book.
Love the ideas. I’m not so interested in the stories. Which it had less of that. But the message did get through. We will be implanting the book into our family.
Love the ideas. I’m not so interested in the stories. Which it had less of that. But the message did get through. We will be implanting the book into our family.
July 19, 2023
Great book! I feel like Jim and I have similar thinking styles so this book works perfectly for my brain. It just makes so much sense. I was home a lot with my kids when they were young so I already did a lot of this but now that they are older and bouncing around doing so many different activities all the time, it is a good reminder to keep the quality time going. I think I will skip the summer season though because I feel like our summer is all about us spending time with the kids so I think I’m putting in a lot of one on one time already. I will do my board meetings in the fall, winter and summer and I might call them mommy/daughter dates instead of board meetings...But then again, if I’m pulling them out of school for it, a “Family Board Meeting” does sound much more official. I told my husband about this book and he is excited give it a shot as well! It surely can’t hurt to try it.
Here are my favorite parts:
“That day, I learned there was something more important than money, more important than fancy private schools, and more important than empty gifts. That something is called quality time.”
“What we failed to notice was that the efforts we made to financially support our children were undermining our ability to emotionally support them.”
“…true connection requires something more than just time.”
“You’d have put in the time, but it was empty time—time without intention or focus. We have expressions for this in the professional world—we call it “face time”…”Quality time is something different. It’s time with purpose. Time with focused attention. Time when we shift our focus away from ourselves and our worries and place it, with intention, on someone else.”
Jim writes about the difference between watching tv with your kids or taking them to practice vs connecting on a level which requires both of you to interact with one another. For me, quality time examples would be biking after dinner with my daughter, teaching my kids how to raft down the rapids in an inner tube, teaching the kids to roller skate, reading a story out loud, hiking trails, playing a board game, bike rides…
“Here’s how it works: once a quarter, you will have a Board Meeting with your child. It must be a minimum of four uninterrupted hours. After that, there are only three steps to success during your time together. You must:
1. Be one-on-one with your child
2. Have no electronics
3. Do a fun activity of the child’s choosing, followed by focused reflection”
This 4 uninterrupted hours can include drive time to and from the activity and meals during the activity. Schedule a meeting every 90 days and rebook after that one is finished.
“Effective professionals know the calendar is their secret weapon because that which we schedule gets done. It’s that simple.”
“We don’t want our children to take these experiences for granted, and if they happen too regularly, the experience becomes mundane.”
“Is my phone going to be on today?”
“Relationship building happens when people are decompressed.”
“What was your favorite part of today?”
“Almost universally, they find that communication opens up when two people are alone together.”
“Here’s how step three works: for every Board Meeting, your son or daughter selects a fun activity for the two of you to do together. It has to be something of their choice, not yours.”
The decompressing should be planned somewhere other than the restaurant. Somewhere with a view?
“When my kids grow up, they will have a habit instilled within them to play hooky from work and school every 90 days to spend time with their most important relationships—without remorse and without guilt.”
Ideas “Climbing the lighthouse, walking the beach, hiking, museums, cooking class, football games, baseball games, sporting events, live music, play or performance, horseback riding, go-cart racing, pedicure/manicure, rollerblading, biking, Pokémon class, at-home fashion show, trampoline world, rock climbing, shopping, water parks, boating, helicopter rides, zoo/animal preserve, basketball, yoga class, ice skating, golf/driving range, miniature golf, art class, photography class, robotics class, comedy show, ghost tours, planetarium, Segway tour, fishing, story hour and playing in the park.”
“Now, I take a photo at each Board Meeting and then jot down a few moments of the time together. When was it? What did we do? What were our top reflections and highlights? My goal is that when my kids leave the house, I can hand them a simple reflection journal of our times together that they will always cherish.”
Here are my favorite parts:
“That day, I learned there was something more important than money, more important than fancy private schools, and more important than empty gifts. That something is called quality time.”
“What we failed to notice was that the efforts we made to financially support our children were undermining our ability to emotionally support them.”
“…true connection requires something more than just time.”
“You’d have put in the time, but it was empty time—time without intention or focus. We have expressions for this in the professional world—we call it “face time”…”Quality time is something different. It’s time with purpose. Time with focused attention. Time when we shift our focus away from ourselves and our worries and place it, with intention, on someone else.”
Jim writes about the difference between watching tv with your kids or taking them to practice vs connecting on a level which requires both of you to interact with one another. For me, quality time examples would be biking after dinner with my daughter, teaching my kids how to raft down the rapids in an inner tube, teaching the kids to roller skate, reading a story out loud, hiking trails, playing a board game, bike rides…
“Here’s how it works: once a quarter, you will have a Board Meeting with your child. It must be a minimum of four uninterrupted hours. After that, there are only three steps to success during your time together. You must:
1. Be one-on-one with your child
2. Have no electronics
3. Do a fun activity of the child’s choosing, followed by focused reflection”
This 4 uninterrupted hours can include drive time to and from the activity and meals during the activity. Schedule a meeting every 90 days and rebook after that one is finished.
“Effective professionals know the calendar is their secret weapon because that which we schedule gets done. It’s that simple.”
“We don’t want our children to take these experiences for granted, and if they happen too regularly, the experience becomes mundane.”
“Is my phone going to be on today?”
“Relationship building happens when people are decompressed.”
“What was your favorite part of today?”
“Almost universally, they find that communication opens up when two people are alone together.”
“Here’s how step three works: for every Board Meeting, your son or daughter selects a fun activity for the two of you to do together. It has to be something of their choice, not yours.”
The decompressing should be planned somewhere other than the restaurant. Somewhere with a view?
“When my kids grow up, they will have a habit instilled within them to play hooky from work and school every 90 days to spend time with their most important relationships—without remorse and without guilt.”
Ideas “Climbing the lighthouse, walking the beach, hiking, museums, cooking class, football games, baseball games, sporting events, live music, play or performance, horseback riding, go-cart racing, pedicure/manicure, rollerblading, biking, Pokémon class, at-home fashion show, trampoline world, rock climbing, shopping, water parks, boating, helicopter rides, zoo/animal preserve, basketball, yoga class, ice skating, golf/driving range, miniature golf, art class, photography class, robotics class, comedy show, ghost tours, planetarium, Segway tour, fishing, story hour and playing in the park.”
“Now, I take a photo at each Board Meeting and then jot down a few moments of the time together. When was it? What did we do? What were our top reflections and highlights? My goal is that when my kids leave the house, I can hand them a simple reflection journal of our times together that they will always cherish.”
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 13, 2022
When you sit and consider that you only have about 18 years/summers to spend with your kids before they go out into the world "on their own" it begins to make you appreciate every moment with them all the more. The strategy in this book is so simple that all of us as parents can find the time to make it happen. It is a strategy that allows us to reconcile the desire to spend time with our kids and the commitments we have in other areas of life in order to build stronger relationships.
December 1, 2025
I read this book in hopes of finding ways to connect with our then-teenagers. I found some neat ideas, and was able to create the Family Board Meeting in our own home... for years, now our grown children talk about having family meetings. The activities we started doing together were very uch a result of reading this book and coming to grips with only a few years at hand to create a lifetime of memories.
January 12, 2022
A quick read. This book gives you inspiration to set aside quality one on one time with each of your children, quarterly. A pretty simple concept... the book gives you a strategy in how to go about planning these special 'board meetings'. The book also discusses meetings will enhance the connection between you and your child, and how this one on one time will help them to build character.
October 28, 2023
Book in a sentence: a short and great book on how to increase quality time with your children and therefore strengthen your relationship.
Key lesson learned: schedule and execute every 90 days a 4-hour electronic-free meeting, where your child chooses what to and you spend vulnerable quality time together.
Key lesson learned: schedule and execute every 90 days a 4-hour electronic-free meeting, where your child chooses what to and you spend vulnerable quality time together.
April 16, 2025
Every parent should read this book! It's such a quick read too. I can't wait to start implementing this with my kids and hope that it will instill a strong bond between us. The idea of spending quality one on one time with each child is so simple and powerful. I am also excited to introduce the "question" component to my weekly date nights with my partner!
May 18, 2019
Great strategies for improving your relationships.
These are definitely ways to improve your parent child relationship. But it’s not a silver bullet by any means. You can have board meetings and still fail as a parent. Overall, good stuff!
These are definitely ways to improve your parent child relationship. But it’s not a silver bullet by any means. You can have board meetings and still fail as a parent. Overall, good stuff!
November 22, 2021
This is a great little book. Easy to read and re-read. Simple message of spending one-on-one time with your kids but also includes some great pointers on how to get the most out of the time…for both parties! Would highly recommend.
September 23, 2018
Sino!e brilliance
Easy and quick read worth the investment in your family. The hour to read will payoff exponentially for a lifetime.
Easy and quick read worth the investment in your family. The hour to read will payoff exponentially for a lifetime.
March 3, 2019
Amazing!!!
It really put into perspective what kind of relationship one has with their child. I always felt i spent time with my kids, but after this, I really haven't.
It really put into perspective what kind of relationship one has with their child. I always felt i spent time with my kids, but after this, I really haven't.
December 6, 2020
Short and sweet
A quick read with a big message! This will be incorporated into our life immediately!! I'm looking forward to my own Family Board Meetings
A quick read with a big message! This will be incorporated into our life immediately!! I'm looking forward to my own Family Board Meetings
February 24, 2022
Jim on spending distraction-free time with kids. Loved the idea; found the writing insufferable.
May 6, 2022
Simple, quick read. Offering what should be obvious advice, but unfortunately isn’t for most of us. I plan on implementing some form of the Family Board Meeting in our home.
June 2, 2022
Simple but effective idea of spending quality time with your family. Must read for parents.
September 6, 2022
Great book! It’s a quick read with lasting application.
November 22, 2022
Amazing! Every parent should read it (doesn’t take more than 2 hours).
January 23, 2023
Every parent needs to read this. I cannot wait to implement these board meetings with my kids.
January 26, 2023
Time is not the same as quality time.
February 19, 2023
Simple, yet powerful.
No need for more information, let's start.
No need for more information, let's start.
April 6, 2023
Una metodología sencilla de aplicar que promete buenos resultados en el tiempo. Te hace reflexionar mucho tu actuar como padre o madre
May 1, 2023
You will be much better off reading the five love languages. It's a steal to elaborate 98 pages about quality Time, worst thing is, it just doesn't even elaborate properly.
July 13, 2023
A must for every parent!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews