A few things that we did in our home while raising our kids that were important and helpful to me to the upbringing of our kids.
Attending church weekly. I want to church to be a priority and feel like you were really missing something when you couldn't make it to church. Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. If it were up t me, we would never work on Sundays.
We prayed with our kids every night and tucked them in with hugs, kisses, and I love yous.
We had supper together at the dinner table as a family. We sat together, prayed, ate our meal, talked, and cleared the table when done.
Mark and I had a very small 12' television with 3 channels, basically to watch the news and weather before bed in our bedroom and tune in during a storm if needed. We did not allow the kids to have television in their bedrooms. We did not want them spending all their free time on tv. We did not want them spending time alone in their rooms behind closed doors. We watched family friendly television as together in the same room. No R rated movies were watched and PG13 if we previewed it first. Sex, violence, language, scary, and intensity were all taken into consideration when choosing a movie.
We had an open door policy. We all left our bedroom doors open during the day or evening until sleeping. Anyone could go into one another's room, there was never anything that was kept secret or private.
Sharing was so important, that toys were never solely claimed, they were to play with and share with siblings.
Conversations were open- we tried to talk about anything and everything. We talked about the hard stuff, gross stuff, and not so fun stuff. We tried to point them to bible truths to be certain of right and wrong instead of conforming to the world.
We emphasize being confident by what you wear and how you look. We encouraged nice clothes and to dress nice for the occasion. When they were between 8-14, they really liked to get spiffed up wearing their sports jacket to church. Clean up and don't wear dirty clothes to town and pajama pants are worn only to bed. Nice hair cuts, daily shower, clean, neat and smelling good are necessary. We also had the boys take off their hats at a very young age out of respect. They don't wear a hat in church or when we pray. Hats in church services and public school were like taboo just a few years ago, not any more.
Teaching how to cook, do laundry, and clean rooms is not just for women. When the kids were young, pre-teen ages, they had a chore chart or a chore marble jar. As the did chores they got points for prizes and such. They each had a list of chores in one room and that was their room for the week. Kitchen, bathroom, living room. The boys, like their father want to be cooked for or throw in a frozen pizza than actually cook.
We encourage the kids to get involved in activities, sports, rodeo, hobbies. Once you are involved, there is no quick and easy quitting. Sticking to something is important and trying new things are encouraged.
Give, Save, Spend. I don't have them do it with every bit of money earned. A few times a year, they take their money and give a tithe amount to church, put an amount in the bank, and have so much in their room for spending.
Be part of helping in some way- We have done operation Christmas child boxes since the kids were toddlers. We want to show them how to love, give, and help others. We have also done many Meals From the Heartland packaging events. I hope to have all 3 kids go on at least one missions trip. Jayden went to Jamaica and Jake to Pine Ridge.
These are many more, however these are a few things that are important to me!
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