The 2020 New Year can be symbolic of the clear vision we want to have–of our families and of the relationships that mean the most to us. Our goals and resolutions for the coming year can include the specific things we want to teach our children during the 12 months ahead. Linda and Richard believe that the goal with preschoolers should be to teach them how to be happy, and to help them understand and feel different kinds of joy, from the joy of the earth to the joy of sharing.
Focusing on teaching one specific kind of joy each month is what makes this effective. The same philosophy applies to teaching elementary age kids responsibility and for teaching kids of all ages the specific values that you want them to embrace. In each case, the key is a focus on one value, or one kind of joy, or one kind of responsibility each month. To illustrate, in their podcast this week, the Eyres read a couple of stories from their 21st book–the second volume of a book of children’s stories that each teach a particular kind of joy to three and four-year-olds. And they end with a challenge to include teaching and relationship goals in our new year’s resolutions.