Family Values and Marshmallows

It was 39 marshmallows that deemed "Friendship" as the winning Huseman family value of 2021. And my kids had a blast.

Around our house, we have a tradition after NYE dinner to watch a slideshow of our favorite pictures of the year. It's a fun way to reflect, laugh and reminisce about the highlights of the year. As our kids get older, they help curate the pictures which makes it a lot of fun. I know there will be years when they're not around, and time is fleeting, so I'm enjoying the tradition while it lasts.

New in 2021 was establishing a set of core values for our family. Our oldest child is 10 years old, and we've decided to be intentional about what our family stands for and how we make decisions. Landing on values was the easy part - I think most of us generally know what lives in our gut and drives our decisions. But how do you make those values more than just words on a board somewhere?

Naturally, I get some eye rolls throughout the year when I remind the kids that our new camper is a reflection of our "exploration" value, or how "meaningful work" shows up in Dad's City Council meetings. But nonetheless, I try to incorporate our values into discussions with my kids.

I think the opportunities are endless with kids, and it can be as simple as marshmallows. This year I put five post it notes with our family values under the TV. And below them were small bowls, and a big bowl of marshmallows. We sat on the floor and throughout the slideshow added marshmallows to the bowls whenever we thought the picture represented a value. That's it. And my kids loved it, they were adding marshmallows to multiple values, and had no problems identifying where the Huseman values showed up.

I'm turning 40 this year - a topic for another day. But I've learned that sometimes things don't have to be so complicated. Family values doesn't have to be a massive production. You can even eat the marshmallows.

I have some other tips I'd be willing to share. One simple step is to start with a master list and start marking some that seem to fit with your family. Bring it to the dinner table and talk about it. I've included a link below to James Clear, who wrote Atomic Habits, which I highly recommend.

Happy New Year!

https://jamesclear.com/core-values