Family meeting #2

Tonight we had our second family meeting. Charley was perched on the bathroom stool, proudly. He was pumped for his moment in the spotlight all day. I took about 20 minutes to think through the meeting agenda. Then I went over it with him and gave him a little script.

He opened with the joke: "What kind of pussy cat talks? Puss and Boots." Not really a joke but I had tears and Ed had a good chuckle. Henry giggled.

He shared our week overview...scouts, holiday parties, etc.

Compliments and concerns...we checked in on the chore charts. Henry announced that they were going great. Mama and Daddy shared a concern over Henry waking at 5:45 lately and not taking the news that it wasn't time to get up well. We discussed this and are hoping for a better week.

Family Law: We reviewed our work on asking. Charley reminded us that "Asking keeps us safe. Asking shows love." Then he announced our second family law, "Respect." He shared that respect is:

1. acting nice 2. talking nice 3. minding

We then discussed how we show respect for people, places, and things. We named examples of each...teachers, friends, doctors, school, library, car, toys, bed, couch.

Ed and I took turns reading different instances and they had to decide if it was showing respect and whether it was respect for a person, place, or thing.

Examples:

Dad is on the phone and the boy wants a snack so he stands and says, "Dad! Dad! Dad!"

Grandma gives a girl a cookie and the little girl just grabs it.

When you color with markers at the kitchen table you use a place mat.

Your mom asks you to clean your room and you answer, "I don't want to."

Mom makes dinner and you try one bite and then say no thank you.

When a girl couldn't put a puzzle together she said, "I can't do this. I am not smart."

Picking your neighbor's flowers.

You get a snack at the zoo and the wrapper falls on the ground and you leave it.

There were some really great chats that took place.

We finished by each drawing a person, a thing, and a place that we like to respect.

Mama: iPhone, daddy, cottage
Daddy: couch, mama, house
Charley: Lego house, Jack, school
Henry: My Jack, Zoo, Lego castle

We ended singing the ABC song. We munched popcorn during the entire meeting.

 It was good. I am glad I jumped in. The boys LOVE it. And it really allows us to take a few minutes to talk about a few things in a more formal, serious manner.

Mama and daddy have homework this week. When we notice that there isn't respect being shown we will use the phrase, "Let's start over." Charley and Henry decided that if we have to give them more than two chances to try something again then they will have to take a break from the task and think about how to better show respect. Ed and I also let them know that giving respect is how you get respect and that mama and daddy should be showing them just as much respect. Yelling does not show respect. Henry responded, "And playing with us does." Haha. Love it.

Ultimately we want our family law to be "Show Love." And so far...by asking and showing respect we are off to a great start at showing love. We'll see how we do this week.