Teaching Right and Wrong

One of my favorite quotes by Dr. Laura recently is " . . . I get calls from parents so enamored by the fact that their kid is so talented or smart that they forget that their kids have to grow up to be descent people." (something to that effect--I wish I had the exact quote)

Isn't that totally true? Some of the best parents I know literally FILL their kid's lives with music lessons, dance lessons, scouts, soccer, daycare, friends, outings, hobbies, games, etc, and honestly, the kid never has time to "learn how to be a good person." Dr. DeMille (from "A Thomas Jefferson Education") says that children in the "Core Phase" (ages 0-8 roughly) learn the lessons of good/bad, right/wrong, true/false and this is accomplished through work/play. Well, it's easy for me to say, since I don't have kids involved in all that stuff right now, but you really need to good chunks of downtime with your children for "the instilling of values."

Here are a few ways we are trying to teach values, virtues, morals, whatever you want to call them, to our children. My feeling is that a true leader, or a patriot, must have these qualities, and these must be taught while they are in their youth.

The first thing we LOVE are the "Standin' Tall" series by Janeen Brady. I grew up with these and to this day sing the songs to myself at times when I'm faced with a moral dilemmas. I highly recommend them!


It comes in a set of 12 books/CDs and the values that it covers are:

1. Obedience
2. Honesty
3. Forgiveness
4. Work
5. Courage
6. Happiness
7. Gratitude
8. Love
9. Service
10. Cleanliness
11. Self-Esteem
12. Dependability

Another thing that hasn't worked as well as I hoped this year but I've improvised is having my kids be a part of a Joy School (preschool) group where moms take turns teaching lessons based on the Joy School Curriculum written by Richard and Linda Eyre. Joy School is another thing I grew up with, and since I was home-schooled I was able to help my mom teach it to each of my siblings. I love the lessons, I love the songs, I LOVE what Joy School teaches. These lessons are honestly as applicable to adults as anyone in my opinion. My only regret is that Joy School has gotten more expensive over the years (because of popularity) and there are typically cheaper options that groups will choose instead. I hope I can get a group of moms together for this upcoming Fall to do a Joy School group with me. Here's their website http://www.valuesparenting.com in case you are interested.

The final thing I'll mention now is a new thing for me, as in, I didn't grow up with these, but they are wonderful! My father-in-law actually got these for us and honestly I don't remember seeing them before--



We have started reading these books to our boys at night, for Family Home Evening, and when we have "dead time"--I shouldn't really call it dead time, but it's cool: Dan will be cooking in the kitchen, the boys running around like wild indians, and I'll just open one of these books and start reading to the family, and every so slowly, the kids will come over to the couch to follow along, or, if it's the main book of virtues, Dan and I will have some neat conversations stemming from something I've read. Honestly, the "Virtues" talked about in these books seem almost foreign in our society now--what has happened to "hard work," "responsibility" and "forgiveness?" I want our boys to know these things, and I want to know them even better.


Does your family do something special to instill values in your children?
Please share!!

"Kidschool"

OK. I admit to this plan not really catching on here yet. McKay has been involved in a mom's co-op preschool which has made the implementing of this plan difficult so far, but I really want to kick into this soon. I've even debated quitting the preschool group but haven't yet decided. I'm still weighing all the pros and cons. . .

"Structure Time, Not Content"
Oliver DeMille

Kidschool* (9-noon)
Chores
Read
Write
Learning "Games"
Music Time (piano, other instruments, theory, listening, etc.)
Indoor Activity
Outdoor Activity

*not necessarily in this order

Our Family's "Morning Routine"

This is a routine we started several months ago to help us get going on the right page each morning. At first it was tricky to remember to do it each day but now our four-year-old reminds us. We have already had amazing payback moments. McKay, our eldest, has memorized the Pledge of Allegiance, the Preamble to the Constitution, and a couple of the Articles of Faith already! He can tell you several of his favorite Book of Mormon stories almost word for word out of the book. These moments truly make all the efforts worth it!

Song
Prayer
Scripture Study*
Pledge of Allegiance
Article of Faith/Preamble to the Constitution
Family Mission Statement

*currently out of the Book of Mormon scripture readers for young children

The book that started it all . . .

Thanks to a good friend, I was introduced to this book and philosophy almost four years ago. I read it immediately, and knew right away that the principles taught in it were true. The concepts were not at all new to me, but a great way of putting all of what I felt together in one place. I was dying to read more. I finally convinced my friend to let me borrow this book:


I ate this book up! It had so many practical examples of how to apply the teachings found in the first book. I finally bought my own copy because I knew I'd want it to keep referring back to.

I finally added this book, their latest book in this little trio:

I loved it as well, but some of the lessons in it were a little advanced for my very young family, so I read the chapters that applied sooner than later. For those of you tired of the conveyor belt, these books are for YOU!!