Recently I found myself saying to my 6-year-old, “We don’t talk to one another that way in this house,” and “I love when you help out without even being asked.” These statements led me to think about my expectations of my kids, my spouse and our family as a whole. I’ve taught other families the importance of setting clear boundaries, expectations and consequences, but I think I’ve slacked on being clear in my own home.
So…perfect time to create new content, share it with my followers and above all, instill some values in my own family. Below, are the steps I used to create my own family values. Follow these ideas, make some changes, or create your own. But I promise, this will help increase mutual respect, appreciation, clearer expectations and lower frustration for all. Now, all of that depends on how much you refer to your list and engagement from all family members (of course the age of your child(ren) is a factor).
STEP 1: Identify the need for implementing values
If you find yourself repeating certain phrases and rules, getting frustrated about the same things over
and over, or wish to bring special attention to behaviors, this is a perfect activity for your family.
STEP 2: Talk with your partner, spouse, co-parent(s)
In my case, I talked with my spouse. You may have parents outside of the home that could require additional people or conversations. In this example, I’m going to refer to only in one household. I talked with my husband about my idea to create and post our family values for all to be reminded of and to be clear about what we need from each other. Together, he and I came up with a short list of our non-negotiables.
STEP 3: Create a master list
Then, I looked up some other examples and put a list together of about 10 values. My kids are 2 and 6 years old, so I chose to present ideas to them rather than ask for a lot of input. If your children are older, they should absolutely be involved with brainstorming the list of values.
STEP 4: Family talk
My husband, oldest son and I talked about what each of our values mean and decided to pick our top 5. You can obviously pick as many as you want but more than 5 seems a little too much to manage or comprehend.
STEP 5: Have fun & get creative
I used an editing website to make a poster of our values. It’s framed and hanging in our home as a reminder. It’s also a unique, custom family piece that I personally take pride in.
Use the link below to access your free full customizable link for your own family values poster. The link will direct you to Canva, an easy-to-use editing website. Enjoy!
-->Free downloads: Editable Family Values Poster <--