Creating House Rules

I sincerely apologize for falling off the face of the earth when it came to our Revolutionary Parenting series. Some of it was time and some of it was that Chapter Five, which is what was next to discuss, was a really hard chapter and it took my husband and me a few weeks to process.

Here is an opening quote from Chapter 5.

“Parents have to pick their battles carefully. No parent is capable of fighting every battle carefully. No parent is capable of fighting every battle that emerges in the war to train and protect their children. Great parenting in the art of providing sufficient education and experience so that children are willing and capable of making appropriate choice without having to go toe-to-toe with their parents on every issue, under all circumstances.”

The rest of the chapter goes on to encourage you as parents to establish family rules. Something that you can reference with your children when boundaries get crossed or bad choices get made.

We have spent the last several weeks praying over our “house rules”. We have titled them: “Being a Bailey”. We looked at what our expectations were of our children and ourselves and came up with the following things we want for us to all follow. We really want it to be an even 10 but we are having a hard time cutting one. Any thoughts?

Being a Bailey means I will…

Be honest

Leviticus 19:11 “Do not lie. Do not deceive one another.”

Be respectful

Ephesians 6:2 “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise) 

Be a helper

Galatians 5:13 “ …through love serve one another”

Be loving

1 John 4:19 "We love because he first loved us."

Be active in my faith

2 Corinthians 5:7 “We live by faith, not by sight.”

Be giving

Acts 20:35 “…It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

Be a hard worker

Colossians 3:23 “Whatever you do, do it from the heart for the Lord and not for people.”

Be accepting of my consequences

Proverbs 19:20 “Listen to advice and accept correction, and in the end you will be wise.”

Be honoring of my body

1 Corinthians 6:19 “your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit”

Be responsible for my words

Psalm 19:14 “Let my words and my thoughts be pleasing to you, Lord”

Be in prayer

1 Thessalonians 5:17 “…and never stop praying”

Now the goal is to make these visibly present in our home. I am not sure what shape that will take. I have plenty of ideas…Pinterest and Etsy are gems!

Do you have house guideline/rules? I would love to hear them and know how you came about creating them.

If you need to catch up on this series go here. I plan on making my review of Revolutionary Parenting by George Barna a Wednesday staple till we finish the book.