10 Lessons I want our Kids to Learn.

I saw a list on Pinterest of things that we should want our children to learn from us- my husband and I.  I decided that it's something that I really want to remember, so I wanted to blog about it.  Here's a simple list of ten things that I want Tenley and our future child(ren) to learn from Mike and I.  I think during our next date night we're going to talk about these things- which ones we do well, which need some work, etc.  I love how we are constantly striving to make things better.

1. Affection: I want our children to see us holding hands, hugging, kissing, etc.  I want them to know what appropriate affection looks like.

2. Saying “I’m sorry”: I want to be quick to use this phrase and I want my kids to hear me say it.  

3. Affirmation: This isn't my primary love language so I have to work at dishing out compliments and affirming language.  But I want our kids to hear us tell them daily how proud we are of them, or what a good job they did, etc.

4. Attraction: Our children need to know that my husband is pretty good looking :)  And vice versa!

5. Time: I think it's a great message for our children to see us trying to spend time together- one on one.  Whether that means stealing time away to go sit on the deck, or go on date nights, take a walk, etc.

6. Laughter: We laugh a lot in our house.  I want my kids to see that and to know that we can always make each other laugh.

7. Respect: Simple signs of respect.  "please" and "thank you", opening doors for each other.

8. Faith conversations: I pray that our children hear us talk about Jesus constantly!  That they know He is just as much apart of our household as they are!  We have already begun to pray with Tenley not just during meals or bedtime, but before we leave for the sitter every day, before a trip, etc.

9. The value of friends: I want our house to be well worn from the traffic of friends in/out of our house. We love having people over and as Tenley gets older I want it to be a house for all of her friends as well.

10. Servanthood: Always asking, “How can I help? What do you need to make life better?” Serving one another is seen in the daily, little things and there’s many opportunities to serve locally and abroad.