Back in November, I received a set of the We Choose Virtues parenting cards for review. At the time, we were living in a friend's basement (eek!) and unsure as to when we would be in a home of our own.
It was a stressful few months, followed by moving into a different house, unpacking, hosting my entire family for Christmas, and then planning a Colonial birthday party for Juliet.
School has resume now, and we are back to "normal" life--whatever that means.
This normalcy has allowed me to have the space and time to use the parenting cards, and we are now on fourth week and I am loving it.
The thing that is so great about them is that they give me something tangible to focus on (the card) and a way to present the information visually to my kids. Yes, I have tried to teach them to be gentle, but now that they have a reminder hanging on the door, they are more cognizant of it.
They read it aloud from time to time (without me prompting them) and they bring it up from time to time. It also has come in handy as a gentle reminder--as in, "Are you being gentle now?" when they are engaged in a tug-of-war/screaming match over a rapunzel wedding dress/ elsa dress/purple lego car, etc.
It also, reminds ME to be gentle (or kind, or attentive, or whatever) because even though these lessons are for kids, they are definitely ones that I need reminding of for myself as well.
Each card also has a little story about the character represented on the card. The kids love hearing the story about the kid on the card and how they learn to exhibit the featured trait. Kettle Gretel was a big hit over here as my two girly girls really liked the tea kettle reference. Did someone say tea party?
I suppose there are a million different ways to use these cards whether you homeschool or not and whether you are religious or not--there are two different sets available: one with corresponding bible verses and one without. So really, these work for anyone looking to teach their kids to be kind, honest, gentle, attentive, self-controlled, obedient, etc.
The way we have been using them is to choose one per week and focus on that trait for the week. We talk about it, read the card, and try to remind ourselves throughout the day to be gentle or kind or whatever the trait of the week is.
It requires no preparation on my part--the best part--and is very engaging for young children. I like that it gets us to try to do these things instead of waiting until the kids are NOT being kind or honest and getting in trouble for it. It's a more pro-active approach, I think.
There are so many resources on the We Choose Virtues site and Heather also has some great pinterest boards to follow.
***links in this post are NOT affiliate links! thanks for reading! ***
