Several months ago my wife and I were lamenting some of the things we saw weren’t going well in our family. So after some long talks, we came up with a set of guidelines for our family that really hits the nail on the head (at least for the issues our family is struggling with). There are three parts:
Love, Respect, Kindness. The bickering, mean voices, not sharing, and general selfishness are things we do not want in our home. It really sucks the spirit out when these things are going on. And it’s not right to be nice to strangers and mean to your own family. Close quarters does uncover the flaws in people, but we are all flawed and we need to deal with it. The attitude we have can make all the difference.
Do Your Duty. It’s not fair to have 5 capable people making a mess of the house and not cleaning up after themselves, leaving mommy to do it all. Do your homework before your recreation. Many hands make a light and even load.
Play Together. We need to have fun, and we need to do some of it together instead of in isolation. We need to budget time and money for family activities, and do things we can all participate in, whether it is a trip somewhere for a couple days, a handful of milkshakes, or a board game on a Sunday afternoon. We need to have positive interaction together and build memories.
I share this in the hope that someone else might benefit from what we’ve learned, and to see if there are suggestions from others.
marcelk.org 