Getting Along in Families

Family harmony requires that we treat our families with our best manners and behavior. Instilling the moral values that we each consider to be important help our kids learn how we want them to live and provide the guidelines for that as we train and direct their growth.

When writing our elementary curriculum, we determined eight principles that we felt were important for children to learn and know about to be able to get along in their families. We then assigned an action statement to each principle. These action statements give kids something positive to do to help them better understand the principles.

Principle: Action Statement:
Love: "I love You"
Respect: "I'll Listen"
Communication: "Let's Talk"
Responsibility: "I'll Help"
Obedience: "I Will
Attitude: "I'll Smile"
Forgiveness: "I'm Sorry"
The Golden Rule: "I'll Treat my Family the Way I want to
be Treated"

Take some time with your children and ask them what they think each principle means. Then ask them what they would think an action statement for that principle should be. You might be surprised at what they say. As we explore the area of teaching children manners for living in families, we will cover each of these principles in more depth.