A wonderful and inspiring photographer friend of mine started making these “Family Rules” for her family. She has ended up selling them because so many people have contacted her wanting a copy of their own! I was inspired by this concept as well and decided that I need to formalize our rules. I had showed another friend of mine a rough draft and she suggested that I call them “goals” or a “Mission Statement” instead of rules and that just felt perfect to me.
In creating them, I included the girls (as much as they were interested) and Chad. I wanted to use language that my kids hear over and over again, every single day. These needed to be something that we would all agree to and support fully. I also wanted to be sure that these were goals that I really needed us to strive for. You know, characteristics that we look for in our adult friends. If someone is a big liar, we probably don’t want to be their friend or if they continuously hurt our feelings, we’re going to stay away, right? Of course, I have lot of other hopes and dreams for who they will be, most of them are not “deal breakers” for us.
Another thing that I really love about Stephanie’s Rules is that they apply universally. The whole family is striving to follow them, not just the kids. I was actually thinking that it might be nice to let the kids remind us if we are not acting in a way that supports our mission statement.
I encourage you to take the time to really think about what your family goals are and perhaps involve the whole family in creating them. I feel like we learned a lot about ourselves in doing this little project, and I think it will help us refocus our parenting to what really matters.
HOULLIS FAMILY MISSION STATEMENT:
- SPEAK WITH LOVE IN YOUR HEART
- BUILD PEOPLE UP WITH YOUR WORDS
- BE A FIRST-TIME LISTENER
- CLEAN UP AFTER YOURSELF
- HELP OTHERS
- HAVE COMPASSION
- KEEP EACHOTHER’S FEELINGS AND BODIES SAFE
- ALWAYS DO YOUR BEST
- SHARE A SMILE, IT’S CONTAGIOUS
- BE SLOW TO ANGER, SLOW TO SPEAK + QUICK TO LISTEN
- KEEP YOUR PROMISES
- HONESTY IS ALWAYS THE BEST POLICY
- DON’T GO TO BED ANGRY (OR GUILTY)
- USE YOUR MANNERS
- CELEBRATE DIFFERENCES IN OTHERS
- NEVER STOP LEARNING
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