Household Rules

By Lynn Murtagh-Hartje ö Mother of 2

How many rules are there in your household?  Have you ever written them down on a list?  If you did list your rules, would your children come up with the same list?

As parents, we have so many expectations of our children, but I am not sure that we take the time to fully explain what our rules and expectations are.

In DWP schools, multiple rules are simplified into three basic ones.

1. Respect yourself, others and things.
2. Contribute to the learning environment and
3. Follow classroom procedures.  Teachers in each grade review the three rules and identify what each rule should look and sound like and what they shouldn't look and sound like.  I suggest parents do the same thing at home.

I have adopted the all school rules for home:

1. Respect yourself, others and things.
2. Contribute to the household.
3. Follow household procedures.

With my children, I have developed a list of what each rule looks like and sounds like and what it doesn't look and sound like.  As a result, all my expectations are laid out in language my children understand.

Just last month, we reviewed and updated our looks/like, sounds/like list.  We kept most of them but revised some and threw out others.  Then I had my kids identify consequences to be imposed when the rules are broken.  The process provided an opportunity for all of us to air our grievances, clarify the rules and negotiate expectations.  I especially like this process because it gives us the opportunity to explain and express our family values.