Works For Me Wednesday

Andy and I are working really hard to get our family around the table each night…

But why? Why is it so important to us to bring our family back together around that wooden sanctuary?

Kids might learn to love veggies. A survey was found that 9 – 14 year old children, who ate dinner at the fa were eating more fruits and vegetables and not as much soda or fried foods.
It’s the perfect setting to try new foods. My kids will barely sit down in a restaurant much less eat something other than chicken and fries. I would be less likely to allow them to get something they may not like and pay for it than serving it at home. I would expect them to try it and if it was not a favorite, I would not have to order another meal.
You control how much they eat (portions). Restaurant portions are becoming larger than necessary. Often the kids eat too much and if they don’t eat it all, it’s considered waste. At home, you can start as little or as large as you’d like.
Healthy meals mean happy kids. Studies have shown that kids who eat with their families frequently are less likely to get depressed, consider suicide, and develop an eating disorder. They are also more likely to delay sex and to report that their parents are proud of them. When a child is feeling down or depressed, family dinner can act as an intervention. You are more aware of how your child is feeling when you are sitting across a table and watching them for 30 minutes or so an evening.
Family dinners help kids “just say no.” Eating family dinners at least five times a week drastically lowers a teen’s chance of smoking, drinking, and using drugs. Teens who have fewer than three family dinners a week are 3.5 times more likely to have abused prescription drugs and to have used illegal drugs other than marijuana, three times more likely to have used marijuana, more than 2.5 times more likely to have smoked cigarettes, and 1.5 times more likely to have tried alcohol, according to the CASA report.
Better food, better report card. Of teens who eat with their family fewer than three times a week, 20 percent get C’s or lower on their report cards, according to the CASA report. Only 9 percent of teens who eat frequently with their families do this poorly in school. Family meals give children an opportunity to have conversations with adults, as well as to pick up on how adults are using words with each other, which may explain why family dinnertime is also thought to build a child’s vocabulary.
Supper can be a stress reliever. If you take the time to shrug off the day, let your worries slip away and sit down to dinner with your family – you’ll probably relieve some tension and stress. Sit back and have a good time with your family.
Put a little cash in your pocket. It costs less! 🙂

These are all reasons that we think bringing back the table works for us. Do you have any other good reasons? It would awesome to compile I huge list!

Uncover your table, make it inviting and bring dinner and your family to the table. It could have a huge impact on everyone sitting around it!

Enjoy and Delight in Your Family!

wfmw

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Have any tips or tricks? Leave them in the comments below. I’d love to hear them! ❤

systemstypofixed

Teaching our children about handling money and making good financial decisions is extremely important to my husband and me.

We live in a world in which instant gratification and the “Me first!” attitude seems to be at the forefront of our children’s minds. If we are being honest, most people’s minds – even adults.

Andy and I want our kids to be hard workers, with a good work ethic and know how to properly handle money.

I have always waffled back and forth on allowance or earnings for kids. My kids are part of the family and they do have family duties. Those are jobs that help maintain and keep the day to day running. I refuse to pay them for washing dishes or helping fold and put away laundry. Those are all jobs they have for just being part of the family.

However, there are a lot of jobs that their “clean freak” mama would like to be done. These jobs do not make the day to day running of the house better or worse. These jobs just help keep mama happy.

First and foremost, there are things that I want my kids to learn to do. Habits I would like them to instill. Should I pay them to do those things? Probably not. However, I refuse to pay them a weekly commission if these personal habits are not done on a daily or weekly basis.

Before paying them commission, these are the items that need to be given attention:

They have to be in the Word daily. Once again, I don’t know if this is wise, however, money speaks. I know they are not going to be paid as adults to read their Bible daily but I want them to make it a habit. Also, the Bible has a lot to say about stewardship and stewardship is one of the main reasons behind the idea of giving them commission.
They have to maintain their bedrooms, laundry, and possessions. I am not going to hand over money to a child who has LEGOs strewn about all over the floor because he did an extra job. He has to be diligent about picking up his belongings. Taking care of what your money has purchased or that you own is another aspect of stewardship I want them to learn.
They are required to be involved in one act of service a week. One of the qualifiers we put on paying commission is they have to serve without getting paid at least once a week. One of those times being when I have moms over once a month. With adults in the room, our kids are more than able to watch the kids. A lot of my friends around here, since its military, have husband’s deployed and they need that time of rest and refreshment. Another example of service can be helping out at church. It cannot be a paid act. I want my kids to be servants not takers.
They have to maintain a good work ethic and attitude. Part of this training is to train our children in how they should approach life and a job. God calls us to approach every task as if doing it for Him. ^“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.” – Colossians 3:23 Like I stated before, I am not paying my kids to have a good attitude and do what they are supposed to be doing. I am trying to instill good habits.

After all those prerequisites are done, they have a job which is above and beyond their daily duties.

We have a lot of white trim, doorways, and doors in our home. I go crazy if there are black fingerprints all over them. One of the jobs is to wipe down all the white trim once a week.

I have yet to find a system that addresses all my pros and cons of allowance systems. Teaching my kids and guiding them in the ways of work ethic, attitude, and finance is very important.

What about you? Do you have a compensation or allowance system in your family? What’s that look like for you?

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