Back to School Feast

The Monday before school started we had a Back to School "feast".  In my mind I had planned a nice, special dinner.  But when I asked William what he wanted he told me that he wanted pizza and fruit.  

  

Not exactly the feast I had in mind but he loved it.  And since he is the one going back to school that's what mattered.

For Family Home Evening that night we played "Trash or Treasure" in which the boys chose a card and we decided whether is contained words which we should treasure or put in the trash.  We added words that we hear too often at our house (and wish that we didn't) and for some reason the boys thought that was really silly.  They recognized them as words that belong in the trash.  We then introduced our family theme for the school year: "Speak Kind Words."  

In the kitchen we placed a jar (that had previously been used to collect warm fuzzies).  This jar collected our kind words... and every time a unkind word was spoken we took one out. It took a whole week to get it filled but once we filled it up there was a special treat (ice cream sandwiches).  I then emptied the jar to start over but William wanted nothing to do with it.  I finally realized that he didn't like the "stress" of worrying about losing a fuzzy.  So we did away with losing fuzzies and now we just earn them for speaking kind words. 

Rich and I were discussing our family theme the other night and we both agreed that it has made such a difference already.  The boys are much nicer and respectful.  And even when they're ornery a quick reminder of "speak kind words" helps them to remember and try again.

Hopefully we can make the feast and theme a new tradition in our home.