Sep 15, 2018
This week's episode deals with Life Hacks for your home, so that every person in your home can experience just a little more peace. Cause we all need more peace, right? Especially when you have 7 people living in that house.
So, Life Hack 1: Chores and Money.
We recently read a blog article by our friend, Grant Botma, about what he does with his kids. He's a financial expert, so we knew it was going to be good. You can read it here.
He discusses how he does not give his kids an allowance, or pay them for chores that are expected of them:
"These are cleaning messes you make, doing your laundry, your dishes, and other household chores that are part of being a household member. When my kids are eventually on their own, they won’t get paid to do their own dishes or laundry. As a result, these are tasks they need to do without financial incentive."
You just have to read the whole article. Or watch this video. It's so good.
We are also trying to teach our kids about taking initiative, budgeting their money, and being productive members of the family.
Our concern for older foster kids, especially ones who will age out, is that they have never been taught how to manage their money. So, this is especially important to think about, especially if you get older teenagers who come through your home or group home.
We are reading a book called 'How to Raise and Adult' and it is so great. They talk about the vital necessity of teaching children to do chores. Some of them, Grant hits on in his article, but this is a Long book, so the author goes into great depths about many parenting issues. But chores is the one we focused on for this week.
Life Hack 2: Dealing with Anxiety
The next life hack we talk about is dealing with anxiety via metacognition. What does this mean? Thinking about what you think about. We straight up stole this from this sermon that our brother, Robert, preached a few weeks ago, about Peace.
Based off of Philippians 4:8, which is the Good Word of the Day, we are charged to think about 'whatever is true'. This means, for those struggling with anxiety, they must leave the Land of What Ifs, and live in the Land of What Is. It's ok to be prepared for some worst case scenarios, but when all we think about is the worst case scenario, then we fill our minds with anxiety and fear. This is not how we are called to live!
Paul, who wrote Philippians 4, was in prison, not in a field of flowers, writing these beautiful words. I think that this fact alone is so encouraging, and a beautiful example that we can fight off anxiety in the safety of our homes.
Life Hack 3: Quit Comparing
Just 5 short years ago, I was sitting in my kitchen googling how to transform my ugly green-ish laminate countertops to LOOK LIKE granite. With a paint kit. And now I am the proud owner of granite counter tops. I share this because I don't want people to look at my house and feel jealous or sad. I want people to know our context - which is we work hard, we save money, and we do things that we can afford. We also live in Arizona, where the cost of living is NOT high! My big house with it's big yard, costs the same as my brother's condo with NO yard, in Toronto.
Context. Perspective. Gratitude.
These three things will surely help us all to quit comparing our lives to other peoples', and to find joy in what we do have.
We have a choice in what we think about, and how we do that! Do not let comparison rob you of your contentment.
The (Good) Word of the Day:
"Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
Philippians 4:8
Thanks for joining us sweet friends!
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