Mondays with Nonnie: Family Mission Statement

Well they did it, the King's earned a trip to Busch Gardens Williamsburg and I'm writing this post from a hotel here to tell you about it.  We worked for almost five months to develop a family Mission Statement.  I had read in Stephen Covey's "Seven Habits for Highly Effective Families" the importance of developing one (Habit #2 Begin with the End in Mind).  We put up a poster on the wall with our family picture in the middle and brainstormed at the beginning of each of our Monday Night Family Meetings.  I got the idea from my good friend Tami Lopez who did the same with her family.  We knew it was important that they feel like they came up with it and as it turns out they did.  The King Kids were in their Super Hero Stage (capes and all) so when my son said "I have the Power", it rang true.  We also have a series of books on tape (yes, we are the last people on earth who are still listening to cassette tapes:) that are all about great leaders and a characteristic they exemplify.  For example, The Power of Positive Attitude; George Washington.  The Power of Integrity; JC Penny.  The Power of Sportsmanship; Jim Thorpe.  You get the idea.  So we had our Mission Statement, "We have the Power and We Empower Others."  We wanted to really help the kids gain these Powers and nothing does that better than to practice using them so we came up with a jar, yes, another jar.  This one is our Power Jar and sits on our kitchen table with all our 'Powers' in vinyl lettering covering the jar.  Each night at dinner we asked them if they used any of their Powers that day and they would tell us if and how they did and would put a 'Power Ball' into the jar for each Power.  If they filled it up we would go to Busch Gardens....We Are Here, nuf said!! 

With Love,
Nonnie