What are we all about?

Second week
The first weekend and week goes well.   We complete all of our chores. Nobody argues over who has to do what. Ok, the carpets don't get as clean with an 8 year old vacuuming, but we'll accept the tradeoff.  We also manage to get some more unpacking completed (we just moved) and found time for reading or creative time.

What are we all about?
Now it's time to sneak in the family "Mission Statement".   The whiteboard comes out.  "So guys, what do you think this family is about?"  Like the great facilitators I've seen, I attempt to ask the question multiple ways.  "How do we want to act with each other?"   "What kind of family do we want to be?" When I start getting some looks of understanding, I pepper them with some choices.   "How about grateful?  Do we want to be thankful, or should we just expect things?" I get some nods and agreement.   After repeating the process, we land on:

• Grateful
• Patience
• Fun together
• Create things
• Always learning and teaching
• Healthy choices (conversations and food)
• Spending time together
• Appreciates calm, quiet

This may not be our final list, but knowing we have a limited patience window, this will be good enough for now. We move onto the retrospective.  

What are we doing well?
"Getting unpacked" is the first to hit our list.  Moving into a new house has an entirely new set of to-do's beyond the normal crazy life list.   We take turns adding to the list, and no answer is a bad answer.  (Except when we take a quick diversion into potty talk.)  Soon, I see the patience to waver. (We've been at this for a solid 10 minutes.) I realize we need to move onto the next section quickly if we don't want this process to become a chore. 

What can we do better at?
Everyone starts to list different ideas.  

• Controlling "the sillies" by ourselves
• Not being so messy with peanut butter
• more quiet and listening
• more laughing
• Keeping hands off windows
• not picking noses
• not complaining

Because we don't want to focus on too many things at one time, I start asking everyone to vote for their 2 favorites   Before I get through everyone. I lose them.  Dinner time starts to unravel.  Sage stops eating.  Dad starts harping on Sage to eat.  Michael starts to fidget and  tries to leave the table. Then, with perfect timing states under his breath, "I should have saved that fart for later."  Giggles erupt and my husband and I have a hard time not smiling.