Affirming those we Love

The girls that we houseparent come to our home for a week at a time. We do that for 3 households to give the houseparents in those homes a break. This means we are with the girls a week each month.

At the end of our week together Bev and I each share something positive we have seen in each girl's lives that week. It may be kind act, or a character quality, or something enjoyable we learned about them.

When we first started doing this, the girls would look down, would be embarassed, and did not know how to take a compliment. It was fun to see them enjoy these words of encouragement and look forward to them.

I think this can be powerful in any home.

A simple concept, we learned (can't remember from where) when our girls were small was that each child is born with a cookie around their neck that says "I am important". Through their day when children cut them down, or laugh at them a little of the cookie crumbles off. When people affirm them, listen to them, care about them parts of the cookie are replaced.

That simple picture helped Bev and I to make positive affirmation an active part of raising our children.