We have been doing what we call "Family Values Nights" together since Drew and Will were very little. We made a family flag that we hang when it's time to begin, and we center our activities around values that are important to our family (honesty, integrity, responsibility, kindness, money management and more). Well, when Drew started scouts a few years ago, we found out there was a scouting badge and award that we could earn for doing these things, so we decided to work on it together as the focus of our family nights for 2008. It's called the Boy Scouts of America Family Award and there is a book with activity topics such as strengthening family relationships, developing personal strengths, teaching responsibility, handling difficult situations and more. We completed the book and were recognized for our work at Drew's cub scout pack meeting in January. It was a cool feeling to be standing there together as a family knowing how we'd been working together for this award for a year.
And now that we've completed that, this year I've decided to set another goal for our family values nights. We'll still focus on values that we feel are important to our family, but we're going to be learning about them as we celebrate the sacredness of the wheel of life and our connection to the earth. Our first celebration of the year was Brigit Eve which we celebrated while the rest of the world was watching the Super Bowl. We made snake candle holders, did a search for signs of spring in our yard and collected branches, berries and leaves to make Brigit dolls (an ancient Irish ritual), had a poetry dinner where we each shared our favorite poems, followed by bananas foster for dessert. (Brigit is the holiday from which Groundhog day stems.) It was a fun celebration and we look forward to more as the earth rotates around the sun:)
We have been doing what we call "Family Values Nights" together since Drew and Will were very little. We made a family flag that we hang when it's time to begin, and we center our activities around values that are important to our family (honesty, integrity, responsibility, kindness, money management and more). Well, when Drew started scouts a few years ago, we found out there was a scouting badge and award that we could earn for doing these things, so we decided to work on it together as the focus of our family nights for 2008. It's called the Boy Scouts of America Family Award and there is a book with activity topics such as strengthening family relationships, developing personal strengths, teaching responsibility, handling difficult situations and more. We completed the book and were recognized for our work at Drew's cub scout pack meeting in January. It was a cool feeling to be standing there together as a family knowing how we'd been working together for this award for a year.
And now that we've completed that, this year I've decided to set another goal for our family values nights. We'll still focus on values that we feel are important to our family, but we're going to be learning about them as we celebrate the sacredness of the wheel of life and our connection to the earth. Our first celebration of the year was Brigit Eve which we celebrated while the rest of the world was watching the Super Bowl. We made snake candle holders, did a search for signs of spring in our yard and collected branches, berries and leaves to make Brigit dolls (an ancient Irish ritual), had a poetry dinner where we each shared our favorite poems, followed by bananas foster for dessert. (Brigit is the holiday from which Groundhog day stems.) It was a fun celebration and we look forward to more as the earth rotates around the sun:) 
3 comments:
I was a Den Mother . . .Twice. It sure would have been awesome to have had parents like you for the boys Greg and I taught. Most parents didn't have the first clue about their boy scout. . .or the program. Hooray for you guys! You totally amaze me! BTW - do you do research to think up stuff like this? I mean. . .how would one KNOW about an "ancient Irish tradition?"
I hate you.. You make me feel inadequate.. :)
I'm not sure how to respond to comments, so I'll just post it here, and hope that you get it:)
Susan - Yes, I do A TON of research about this stuff. I LOVE anthropology and philosopy. I wish I had taken more classes in these areas in college... now I just read a lot!
Melissa - Thank you! I love you and feel inadequate all the time! We're all just doing our best and it's all right! You are an awesome mom! No where near as crazy as I am;~)
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