Mom Goes Viral for Implementing ‘Silent’ Family Activity (Exclusive)

With a big family, getting everyone together in one room and engaged in the same thing can be hard, especially after a long day at work.

Meghan Joy Yancy, a mother of six, was searching for a way to unwind while simultaneously spending time with her kids when her husband suggested family reading nights. Yancy went viral after she posted a TikTok about the now-weekly tradition.  

“My husband came up with the idea,” Yancy tells PEOPLE Magazine. “He works full time, has side businesses, and is getting his doctorate right now. He really wanted to make that intentional time for our family and also etch out time where he could read, and then we could have that time together as a family.” 

“We want the intention to be that we will make time for it every day, for 30 to 60 minutes,” Yancy says. “Realistically, it happens, maybe depending on the week and what’s going on, but maybe two to four times a week.” 

With six kids and two parents, there is a wide range of genres being read, from fantasy to graphic novels and biographies.

Yancy herself is a big nonfiction reader, while her daughters prefer dystopian series and her sons are currently figuring out their favorite niche. Although her youngest is still learning to read, she is just as involved as the rest. “Our youngest is six and she’s still learning how to read, so we’ll either read to her or she quietly plays with toys or colors or look at picture books,” Yancy says.

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“I want my kids to learn to love learning, to be intrigued with learning, and so much of that happens in books,” she adds. “So I just knew they needed a gateway to kind of discover that and try things out.” 

Although Yancy didn’t expect much when she posted the TikTok, she was surprised by the reaction. She tells PEOPLE that many commenters shared stories of reading time from their childhoods, and some shared tips for how they would implement it. Now, she hopes to inspire other families.

“I hope it inspires people to make more family time and just connect in that capacity because you’re just pausing the day to sit down together for a piece of time. I think that’s so beautiful and so simple,” Yancy says.

“Even someone who’s exhausted from working all day still has the capacity to do that and just make time to be in the same room doing something together.”