by LADC on January 25, 2012
One-on-One time is listed as one of the “7 Habits of Highly Effective Families”. These parent/child “dates” can be a special outing or as simple as a run to the store together. If you find yourself running out of “conversation” starters with your child, see some options below for questions that are thought provoking and that promote creative thinking. These would also be great questions to take on a long car trip!
* If something besides rain or snow could fall from the sky, what would you want it to be? (what about jelly beans!)
* If you could be shrunk down to one inch tall for a day, what do you think would be the most exciting place to explore?
* If you had to work on a farm for one week during the summer, what job or chore do you think would be the most fun to do?
* If you could make anything at all twice as big as it already is, what would it be?
* What is one think you are pretty certain you will be good at as an adult?
* What is the silliest thing you have ever done?
* If you could do anything you wanted- anything at all- for your next birthday, what would you do?
* If you could be taken to and from school each day in an unusual vehicle or machinery, what would be your form of transportation? (think tractor, firetruck or rocket!)
* If you won $1,000 as part of a contest, how would you spend the money?
* If a drinking fountain would give you any drink of your choice to spout up, what drink would you choose the most often?
* What is your favorite month of the year? Why?
* If you could be any animal for one day, living in it’s environment and doing it’s thing, what animal would you be?
* What part of a typical day do you look forward to the most?
* In your opinion, what animal makes the funniest or most unusual sounds?
-from Kid Chat by Bret Nicholaus and Paul Lowire- The Question Guys
by LADC on January 25, 2012
Every day, every week and every month offer multiple opportunities to reenforce your family’s bond. “Synergize” your family with affection, celebration and confidence!
Day-to-Day Rituals:
* Daily Devotions
* Prayer time at meals and bed-times
* After-school snack and “question of the day” time
* “Singing” in the car to favorite songs
* Story time before bed
* Bath-time “play”- water crayons, bubbles, add glow-sticks to bathwater and bath with the lights off!
Weekly Traditions:
* Saturday/Sunday morning breakfast in jammies
* Family Pizza and Game Night!
* Rotating Family Chore Chart (create a spinning wheel!)
* Worshiping weekly as a family
Annual/Special Day Rituals:
* Hanging crepe paper and balloons in child’s bedroom doorway on birthdays
* Make or purchase a “I am Special” plate for family members to use during mealtime on extra-special days
* Take a picture of your child in the same spot every year. ie: first day of school or birthday
* Heart-shaped cookies, sandwiches, candies, cards and signs (heart-shaped EVERYTHING) on Valentine’s Day!
* Purchase favorite -flavor of ice-cream or cereal on school report days
* Ring the Salvation Army bell at Christmastime as a family
* Go Shopping and donate the bags of food to the local food shelf once every three months
Visit with friends to discover ways other families build ritual and tradition into their homes.
by LADC on January 21, 2012
When you thought I wasn’t looking, I saw you hang my first painting on the refrigerator, and I wanted to paint another one.
When you thought I wasn’t looking, I saw you feed a stray cat, and I thought it was good to be kind to animals.
When you thought I wasn’t looking, I saw you make my special cake just for me, and I knew that little things are very special.
When you thought I wasn’t looking, I heard you saw a prayer, and I believed there is a God I could always talk to.
When you thought I wasn’t looking, I felt you kiss me goodnight, and I felt loved.
When you thought I wasn’t looking, I saw tears come from your eyes, and I learend that sometimes things hurt, but it’s alright to cry.
When you thought I wasn’t looking, I saw that you cared and I wanted to be everything that I could be.
When you thought I wasn’t looking, I looked… and wanted to say thanks for all the things I saw when you thought I wasn’t looking.
- Author Unknown
by LADC on January 21, 2012
Author Stephen R. Covey listed the “7 Habits of Highly Effective Families”. He notes that even healthy families are “off track” 90% of the time! The difference is that healthy families have a goal, they know where they are going and they have a plan to get there.
1. BE PROACTIVE- Become an “agent of change” in your family, using self-awareness, conscience, imagination and independent will to teach family members the freedom to choose how they respond to potentially stressful situations. It is helpful for family members to know their gifts and strengths. Love is a verb… an action we choose.
2. BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND- Earlier this week, a guide for creating a Family Mission Statement was shared. Mission Statements help give us a clear, shared vision of the destination where we as a family want to go. Because it is developed together, there is a sense of “We”; this is our decision, our determination. Writing the Mission Statement is only the beginning… translating that mission into the very fabric of our family life, into the moments of our day-to-day living.
3. PUT FIRST THINGS FIRST- In the ever-increasing “business” and turbulence of our lives, it is important to make family a priority. Schedule “Weekly Family Time”, get it on the calendar! Listen to your children, talk, plan, play games, tell stories. Prayer and devotion time is precious time.
4. THINK “WIN-WIN”- Move from a “me” mentality, to a “we”. Make choices everyday that “fill each others’ cups”. What will help the family?
5. SEEK TO UNDERSTAND…THEN TO BE UNDERSTOOD- Focus on solving family problems through empathetic communication. Communicate one-on-one, setting time aside frequently to communicate, both with your children and your spouse. Let children talk, let them know they are important. As parents, listen first and given advice only when asked for.
6. SYNERGIZE- Build up your family’s energy by celebrating differences, up-lifting gifts. Find opportunities for letting each family member be their own person and shine with their own light!
7. SHARPEN THE SAW- Stephane R. Covey, the author of “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families” uses this term to define renewing Family Spirit through Traditions and Rituals. There were many holiday tradition and rituals shared in last month’s blog. This month will also highlight some year-round traditions and rituals that may help your family “sharpen the saw”.
by LADC on January 19, 2012
Use the questions listed below to create a Family Mission Statement with your family. Spend time together after dinner or during a family fun day to brain-storm the answers. Assign a family member to take notes. Turn the activity in to a fun scrap-booking or craft session by providing paper, stickers and markers to turn the Mission Statement into a picture to display with pride in your home.
* What is the purpose of our family?
* What kind of family do we want to be?
* What kinds of things do we want to do?
* What kind of feeling do we want to have in our home?
* What kind of relationships do we want to have with one another?
* How do we want to treat one another and speak with one another?
* What things are truly important to us as a family?
* What are our family’s highest priority goals?
* What are the unique talents, gifts and abilities of family members?
* What are the principles and guidelines we want our family to follow?
* Who are our heroes? What is it about them that we like and would like to emulate?
* What families inspire us and why do we admire them?
* How can we contribute to society as a family and become more service-oriented?
Have fun together as you lay the ground-work for your healthy family!
by LADC on January 17, 2012
As we begin a new year, some of you may have already decided on making resolutions. Many times resolutions are centered around eating healthier, exercising more, etc. Consider focusing on another kind of “healthy”. Explore what goes into fostering healthy relationships within your family.
The following are “Signs of a Healthy Family”:
* The ability to negotiate with other members of the family without using “put-downs”.
* The ability to say “yes” or “no” without the price tag of rejection.
* The ability to ask with out demanding.
* Confidence in the stability of the relationship
* The ability to show feelings of all kinds, without fear of losing the relationship
* The ability to have specific relationships with individuals in the family.
* Confidence in the honesty of the family members, and in feeling trusted by others.
* The ability to celebrate, have fun and play together!
A family growing together is made up of whole people. Growth toward wholeness does not just happen to someone. Some try to keep a family together through outside incentives, like affluence, restrictive rules or sometimes by force. But a family grows from within.
Parents provide models for healthy living and healthy relationships for their children. Our lives are living exhibits of how to love, how to fight, how to decide and how to socialize, all in healthy ways.
This month’s blogs will focus on what you can do as a family to acquire the traits that are present in healthy families. Watch for more to come!
by LADC on December 24, 2011
Believing in the true spirit of Christmas, we commit ourselves to:
* Remember those people who truly need our gifts
* Express our love in more direct ways than gifts
* Examine our holiday activities int he light of our deepest values
* Rededicate ourselves to our spiritual growth
Christmas Prayer- “May the spirit of giving go on through the year, bringing love, laughter, hope and good cheer. Gifts wrapped with charity, joy, peace and grace, ribboned with happiness, a tender embrace.” – Norma Woodbridge
by LADC on December 23, 2011
More Christmas Traditions to fill the holiday with memories, fun and laughter…
* Have every family member make an ornament each year. Write names and date on the back of the ornament. When your children have their first Christmas in their own home, make a gift of their ornaments.
* Give new pajamas every year on Christmas Eve.
* Bake a cake of Jesus and sing “Happy Birthday!”
* Set up a Nativity Set children can play with to re-enact the story during the holiday.
* Make one traditional family gift a large puzzle to assemble on throughout Christmas Day.
* Build an annual gingerbread house. Add pictures to an album every year. Or, have each family member make and decorate a house to create a “village”.
* Plan a special day between Christmas and New Years to have friends over for treats, snow fun and caroling.
* Choose a family service project ie: give blankets to the homeless, pray for people in need, donate a gift to a local program, shop for the area food shelf, etc.
by LADC on December 22, 2011
As you look forward to the Christmas celebrations coming at the end of this week, think back to your childhood. What traditions do you want to carry through to your family? it may be certain holiday foods, going to visit friends and relatives, wearing special holiday clothes, singing songs, traditional gifts given and received.
The holiday activities below may bring memories of Christmas traditions, or spark an idea for a new family tradition!
* Tell stories of Christmases past. Your children will love to hear what you did as a child.
* Pop some popcorn and fill hot chocolate into thermal mugs. Then take a drive to see the holiday lights. Remind your children that the tradition of lights began as a way to bring light into a dark winter nights, the same way that Jesus brings light into the World!
* Establish a time for your own nuclear family to have their own celebration and gift opening. Select a date before you leave town, or go to celebrate with others.
* A Christmas Morning Breakfast Celebration! Open presents in pajamas, sit down to a fancy breakfast using the best dishes and silverware. Drink orange juice out of wine glasses. Put candles into pancakes and sing “Happy Birthday, Jesus!”
* Look into your family lineage. Joseph was a descendant of King David, Mary was a cousin of Elizabeth, making Jesus and John the Baptist cousins. From where did your descendants come?
* Choose one or more holiday activities from your ethnic heritage. ie: Santa Lucia Day from Sweden, Los Posados Celebration from Mexico, Gifts left in Shoes by by St. Nick, etc.
* Act out the Christmas story on Christmas Eve. Read from Luke 2, gather items for props and costumes, then have children act out the story as it is read.
by LADC on December 21, 2011
Think b
ack to your childhood Christmas. Which traditions, activities or occasions were particularly pleasurable and memorable for you? As you plan for Christmas traditions and rituals for your own family, remember these five hallmarks that makes a tradition successful:
* Simplicity
* Inclusion
* Meaningful Symbols
* Allowing the Spirit to work
* Allow for Change as the Family Changes
Take a moment to look past the “Wish List”, and remember what children REALLY want for Christmas:
* A relaxed and loving time with family.
*Thoughtful gifts, full of meaning.
* Relaxed schedule, with plenty of time for PLAY
* Family traditions
“Make a memory with your children, Spend some time to show you care; toys and trinkets can’t replace those Precious moments that you share.” – Elaine Hardt
