Recently I sacrificed a Saturday night with my family to attend a seminar on Raising Boys. I was so tired and it was an unusually packed weekend, so I really debated on whether or not I should actually go.
Thankfully, I chose correctly and went. I learned a lot of things that night from the authors of the book Wild Things, The Art of Nurturing Boys, by Stephen James & David Thomas (www.stephenanddavid.com).
However, one thing really stuck in my mind. I was so excited to share it with my family when I got home. The authors mentioned to consistently parent around values and not rules! What they were saying, in a nut shell, was that we should teach our kids basic values we believe in as a family and those values should be their guide through their daily decision making and life choices.
So the next night at dinner we came up with 4 values that we think our family should use as a guide.
Kindness
Respect
Courage
Responsibility
We are going to paint those four words on the wall in our breakfast room. We felt that these 4 values could really help each of us with our daily interactions. We then gave some examples for them to really understand the ideas.
~What if someone wanted you to try cigarettes because they were cool? ~~ Courage Because I would have to stand up for what I believe is right and say no. Respect Because I would want to respect my body and stay healthy…
~What if someone was having a bad day? ~~ Kindness I would try to talk to them and cheer them up.
~What if you did bad on a test? ~~ Responsibility I should have studied better and done my work.
Once you know your values, you can begin to be accountable for your actions. You can live your life from your center.
My challenge to you today is to put some thought into what your values are. I would love for you to share with us what words you come up with. Whether you are a parent, married, single, teen or adult…really choose who you want to be… let these words help guide you to a more joyful life.
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