Week 3: We've Got an Agenda

Okay, ya'll!  We're going to throw down and go HARD CORE this week.  Okay, not really.  Because I can barely keep up with the non-hard-core stuff.  But this is something I've been looking forward to.  I'm hoping it rocks our mothering worlds.  We're adding an agenda.  More about that later.

Our three big focuses for this week are:

1) Hold another family meeting.  Give compliments.  Teach about your character quality.  Review the Respectful Choices chart together.  And then, get ready to do something new.  This time, we're going to introduce the agenda.  

The idea behind the agenda is that when your family encounters issues throughout the week, you write them on your family meeting agenda (a white board or paper taped to the fridge or whatever) to be discussed at your next family meeting.

Just thinking back over our week, I'd say if we'd been keeping an agenda list, we would have put the following items on the list:

1) Liam touching Soren's stuff (prevention and response).
2) Liam's incessant whining.
3) Soren being responsible for homework without nagging.  

For each item on the agenda, the family will take some time to brainstorm solutions to the issues, pick one that everyone can agree on, and then implement the solution throughout the week.  If no one can agree on a solution, the agenda item is tabled for another week.

I LOVE THIS APPROACH because it helps families work together to make family life better.  It puts everybody on the same team, working toward the same goals.  AND it teaches kids problem-solving skills.    
The aphorism that I think best applies to this approach is:  "Are you looking for blame or are you looking for solutions?"   I like this quote so much, in fact, I think I'm going to make it bigger and fancier.

"Are you looking for blame or are you looking for solutions?"

There.  Much better.

Annoy your children with the repeating of this quote and someday, much to their own chagrin, it will become a part of them and they will catch it slipping past their own lips.

(For more information about family meetings/agendas, I really recommend reading this article.)

2) Keep track of your points!  I totally failed at this AGAIN this week, but I am truly believe it will be helpful in keeping me on track and I am ABSOLUTELY going to do it this week, come HECK or HIGH WATER.

3) Check in on Facebook!  I love to read the words that spring from your lovely fingers.