This month, in Once Upon a Family’s Live, Laugh, Love Club, we are focusing on the family value of responsibility. I have to admit, this is a great place for our family to start, including myself! I have been neglecting some of my duties, namely spring cleaning, the seasonal clothes, and an assigned chore routine. I am a little ashamed of how far I have let things go, especially being a neat, clean, and organized person at heart (although you would never know that if you walked into my home right now!!).
Celebrating good deeds and good choices is a wonderful way to teach cherished family values to your children and grandchildren. Fill your Candle Of Honor Wheels with names and good deeds that represent the 12 family values and talk about the responsibility we all have to behave in ways that make life better for those around us.
June is about responsibility and how we need to help each other create a happyhome. It is about coming together to do chores, clean the house and make life a little better for everyone. After all, if the grown-ups do everything for everyone else, they will always be tired and never have time to play a board game, throw a ball in the backyard or read with the family.
What are we teaching children when we run around doing everything, while they play with their friends or watch TV? If we all pitch in and help out, everyone has more fun. Get the family involved in a planned experiment to divvy up chores and cooking. Start an organized rotation of duties, so every family member is able to learn how hard parents work to provide for the family and also about pride in a job well done.
Make it fun by playing a lively song while doing Saturday chores together, and then treat everyone to a baked family favorite (cake, pie or cookies) when they have completed their tasks.
Older children should not leave the home to go off to college without knowing how to cook for themselves, clean the house, do laundry, iron, balance a checkbook, etc. Children who are taught to help out at home will, no doubt, grow up well-equipped to take care of themselves.
