When I am feeling tired, stressed or overly busy, I am less patient, I get frustrated and crankier much more easily, I don’t engage in the moment with my children or partner as my mind is racing ahead, distracted by all that I feel I should be doing. Needless to say, in these moments I find being the parent I want to be much more difficult.
Ever since reading Amanda Morgan’s ebook, Parenting With Positive Guidance, I have wanted to create a family mission statement but as so often happens, life just seemed to keep getting in the way of Dad 101 and I having the time to quietly sit down to talk about our shared vision for our family. But this was a conversation that we really wanted to have. Fortunately, at four and a half, Immy is at an age that we could involve her in our initial discussion so one night, as we sat down to eat dinner, we had a conversation about what is important to our family and how we treat each other and everyone we come in contact with. We talked about what we each felt our family ‘rules’ were and we talked about how we liked to be treated. And from this discussion, the first draft of our family mission statement was created.
Working together to clearly define what is important to our family helps us to all stay on the same page as we set priorities, make choices and decisions, and interact with each other, or as Amanda shares, we set the tone for our home.
I used Photoshop to create an A4 sized bus roll style poster which will hang in our kitchen/dining area, the hub of our home. You could just as easily create a version in Powerpoint, Publisher or even Word. I am hoping that having it displayed will help to remind us all of what we, as a family, stand for. Especially in those tired, stressed and overly busy moments.
Have you ever defined your family mission statement?
Christie Burnett is a teacher, presenter, writer and the mother of two. She created Childhood 101 as a place for teachers and parents to access engaging, high quality learning ideas.
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