What to do as a family in February

February is the shortest month and the one that drags the longest: winter has outstayed its welcome, the light is not back yet, and there is less strength left for it than for any other month.

So February is no month to start something grand. It is the month for what is close: yourself, your own body, and the people nearby who need hands rather than money. That is what the three plans below are about.

Three plans for February

Each one opens in full: the weeks, a project for everybody in the family, the goal of the month. Any of them can be rewritten for you and printed on two A4 sheets.

• Month About OurselvesWhat came as news about ourselves?Week 1 Meditation every evening: ten quiet minutesWeek 2 Thanks out loud: every evening, round we goWeek 3 The wheel of life: scoring eight parts of itWeek 4 A retreat at home: two days off the screensSpend the month paying attention: silence, notes, the wheel and two days offline.

  A week of silence, a week of thanks, the wheel of life and two days offline.

• Taking Care of UsWhat should have been done long ago?Week 1 Barber and hairdresser: style, not lengthWeek 2 Massage: both of us booked on the same dayWeek 3 A whole day at the spa: phones in the lockerWeek 4 The doctor, not the spa: the tests we put offCome first for once, not last: the barber, the massage, the spa and the doctor.

  A barber, a massage, a whole day at the spa and the tests put off for two years.

• Month of HelpingWhat do we want to keep doing?Week 1 The shelter: how to help other than moneyWeek 2 Collecting food: asking the class and neighboursWeek 3 Sorting clothes and taking them to charityWeek 4 Sitting down together: what each of us feltHelp with hands and time rather than a transfer — and see what was ours.

  The shelter, a food drive, clothes to a charity point and a talk at the end.

How it looks on paper

Each plan prints on two A4 sheets. Open an example, change it for your family and print it — moods, progress and notes are filled in with a pen.

Build your own February

If none of them fits, build your own: the theme of the month, four weeks and a project each. It prints the same way — two pages, and onto the fridge.

Other families put their seasons up too — there are more on the showcase.