We are striving toward being intentional parents. Hubs and I had a kid free weekend last weekend and decided we needed to sit down and come up with a list of family expectations/goals. It's scary to think that we only have 17 more years to go before our last baby leaves the nest. We have lots of soul feeding to do before they leave us!
We came up with a list of 6 "We" statements. These are things that our family does (not tries to do). This is our identity. If you are in our family, this is what is expected of you. That kind of thing. I painted a little sign to put above our kitchen table, as a daily reminder.
To implement these, we are trying to take one word each week and add it to their (specifically our 3 year old's) vocabulary. This week we focused on respect. Respect for self, others, parents, God, material things, etc. We tried to help add the word and meaning to her vocab. Just for fun, we are adding a song to go with each word. So, obviously, our first song played at dinner was by Aretha Franklin:)
As a huge disclaimer, we are not very good at all 6 of these things. But there's nothing like little eyes watching, to keep you on task! We really want to instill selflessness and love in our kids (and ourselves). This is something we truly have to work at on a daily basis! Our main hope is that they'll carry at least some of these ideals on with them when they leave us some day.
I'd wondered if you were kid-less last weekend, sounds like it was a great weekend! I love your sign and desire to be intentional in your parenting! You have once again gotten me thinking about what I can do in my own home, thank you!
ReplyDeleteThis is a wonderful idea. I'm inspired!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea, Aubrey!! Wes and I have made family goals (that piece of paper is somewhere...hah!) and that is a wonderful way of displaying them so that they are in front of you day by day! Thank you for sharing!! What amazing parents y'all are!!
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