New Family Motto and Roses and Thorns

I wanted to pass this along just in case anybody else wanted to copy it like I did.

I was reading about the Obamas and their life and how they are adjusting to life in the White House. On the nights my Barack O'Boyfriend isn't traveling, they all eat dinner together. They have always played a game at dinner called Roses and Thorns. Each person goes around the table and says what their "rose" was the for the day and what their "thorn" was for the day. So each person is sharing their highs and lows with each other. I think this is brilliant and so simple. It can be played with little tiny kids but think about if your 14 year old daughter was sharing something positive in her day and something that was troubling or saddening her everyday. Imagine the lines of communication that would open. Also, imagine growing up in a house where everyday your parent(s) shared something great that happened to THEM and also something they were upset, sad or worried about. Kids would learn from the get go that the universe isn't just about them and their lives but that their parents are actual people with celebrations and trials. Each family member would celebrate together and have opportunities to show compassion and talk out problems each person was facing. We played for the first time tonight and the girls got the game 100%. We talked about fun things and sad things and we had the best dinner conversation we've had in a very long time. We are TOTALLY committed to doing this every night at dinner.

Also, we have a new family motto that we made up and it's not copied but you can totally copy it if you want. I have been trying to explain to the girls that they are old enough now that I will no longer do what they want if they don't do what I want. I've been trying to explain to them that the good stuff in life like TV, books, games, ice cream, trips to the park, riding bikes etc. aren't free. You have to earn those things by doing the things that your Mom or teacher or someday your boss wants you to do. This is a harder concept for them to grasp than I thought it would be. So we came up with a family motto today. "Mind & Kind" is our new family motto. The girls are loving to rhyme everything right now so the fact that our motto rhymes is what really sold it. But it's simple and they can explain to you that in our family the most important things are to mind our mommy and daddy and speak and treat each other in kind ways. They totally got that if they follow the family motto of Mind and Kind that they will get the things they like. We had a lesson on our new family motto tonight and I had the girls teach Mike the new motto and what it meant and they did it 100%. So cross your fingers and let's hope they start to understand that the only thing I really want from them is to mind/obey what I tell them to do (which is very little) and to be kind people. If we can stick to this family motto I think we'll be in pretty good shape.