Goal: Speak to your family with KINDNESS. Speak words of LIFE. Edify. Compliment. Praise.
I heard my kids speak to each other. And it wasn’t kind…it was UGLY.
I didn’t like it. But then I listened to how I was speaking to them – they were just repeating ME!! How did this happen?!
Barry and I decided it had to change. So, we wanted to work on it this summer. But we wanted to make sure everyone could benefit. Come learn with us this summer, over the next two months, as we lift up and edify each other!
And at the end, there’s something fun for someone!!! It will be worth the hard work!
Overview:
We will use the family devotional: Our 24 Family Ways from Clay Clarkson. Each night we will do the devotional together as a family. Then, each person will say ONE nice thing that a family member said and/or did for them that day.
How it Works:
- Do a family devotional together each day…or almost each day, focusing on improving kindness toward each other. Grace reigns. We are using Our 24 Family Ways, but feel free to use a different study, or come up with your own.
- After the study, everyone says one nice thing another family member said or did for them.
- “Punishment” is decided on by YOUR family.
- Choose kind words and actions. When you find yourself going the opposite direction, stop and back pedal, making the right choice.
When it Goes Well:
In addition to being kinder to each other, everyone will also focus on offering immediate praise when they notice someone else being kind. Each week (Sunday night, in our case) Mom and Dad will assess how the week went and see if there are any prizes or treasures to be distributed for improvement. Mom and Dad judge how things went. Some ideas include:
- A fun activity
- Gum
- Mints
- A new small toy
- A special privilege
When it Doesn’t Go Well:
When ugliness toward another family member presents itself, you can decide on your own family “punishment.” For us, the offender will have to clean something of Mom’s choosing…or if Mom is the culprit, Dad will choose the item to clean. Either way, just like with kindness, ugliness should be called out immediately (in a kind way).
Celebrating the Achievements:
At the end of the summer, we know this is going to result in a huge achievement in our family. We’re already making a plan to reward our family for their focus on kindness toward one another with a trip to the zoo. You can choose if that’s something you’d like to do. Choose something FUN for your family as a reward for learning how to speak (and act) with kindness.
Join us and Win!
To encourage families all over the globe to join our challenge, we’ve put together a big giveaway! It’s simple to enter: fill out the sign up form below and you’ll be added to our Family Kindness Challenge email list. We will send you a weekly email with progress updates, tips, and encouragement to make the most of this challenge. At the end of the summer, we’ll email you details on how to enter the giveaway by telling how your family of kindness challenge went – what did your family learn? What were your takeaways?
The HH staff will choose our top 5 winners who will receive dinner and a movie, via a $25 gift card and a movie voucher.
From the top 5, we will let the HH community vote and select one winner, who will receive an amazing prize package with items from some of our favorite companies, including:
- Clarkson books: Our 24 Family Ways + Coloring Book and also Desperate by Sarah Mae and Sally Clarkson
- Financial Peace University (from Barry and myself)
- Lexie Naturals
- Beauty & The Beads diffuser bracelet
- Bread Beckers ($75 store credit)
- Thirty One Gifts (Christine Ewalt): Essential Storage Tote & Fresh Market Thermal Crosshatch Tote
- Jesus Storybook Bible (from Barry and myself)
- Young Living Essential Oils Grounding Essential (from Barry and myself)
- Ecloth bundle
- Character Badges
- Tropical Traditions ($50 store credit + 1 gallon Palm Shortening)
- Scripture Chalkboard Sign from Croft Canvas
- MORE TO BE ANNOUNCED!
We’ll also do occasional live videos on the Humorous Homemaking Facebook page. If you’re not already following us on Facebook, you should be!
To take part in this life-changing family challenge, all you need to do is sign up below.
Something I did as a first grade teacher was to give my students a “pat on the back.” The school where I taught had a die cut machine with a hand cutout. Using multiple sheets of light colored construction paper I had a bunch cut out. Then when I would see my students do something helpful for another student I would write on one of the hands the date and action of help that was done. I then rolled up a piece of tape and stuck it to the back and walked over to the student and “patted them on the shoulder” leaving the hand stuck to their shirt. They would get so excited!! Parents loved this too because their child was positively reinforced and were able to tell them what they had done. The next year I taught 5th grade and they loved it too!! No extra sugar but lots of praise.
That is such a cute idea – thanks for sharing, Barbara!
Julie, Humorous Homemaking Team