Instilling Responsibility At A Young Age

As many of you know, Gary and I work with high school kids at our church. One of the things we keep seeing with this generation of kids is that they're lazy, irresponsible, and feel entitled to more and more stuff without having to earn it. One of the many traits that I admire about my husband is his work ethic and the pride he takes in his work. I'm so thankful for this because our kids will notice this about their dad and hopefully want to emulate him. Recently, Gary and I have had discussions on chores, allowances, and having a happy spirit when helping around the house. We've been trying to decide whether or not kids should receive $ for their chores or are chores just something they should do because they are members of our family? If we want to eventually get into the 3 jar system of giving, saving, and spending, then how should our kids receive an allowance? We would love to hear ideas on what your family does. Carter frequently helps around the house by making his bed, setting the table, cleaning up his toys, putting up his dishes and cups, and helping with laundry, but he doesn't have a set list of chores every day or week. I wish I could say he does his chores with a happy spirit, but there is often complaining that comes with them. Any suggestions on how to change his attitude? I know the biggest example is for me to show him joy when I'm doing my chores around the house. We want to be very intentional when we parent and one of our hopes is that we raise responsible, hard working children. Here are a few pictures of our boys helping out around the house.

The sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied. Proverbs 13:4

How did we come up with our blog name?

Months ago, I somehow convinced myself that I needed to start a blog. It wasn't because I thought my life was super interesting or that I had witty and clever things to share with you all. The sole purpose of this blog is to share our lives with family and friends so you can see our family grow in our relationship with our Heavenly Father and hopefully in size too. :) Those of you who know me, I'm not cut out for blogging because I'm a perfectionist, not very creative or witty, and definitely not a good writer by any means. But hopefully, the cuteness of our kids, the funny things they say and do, and their hilarious videos will keep you coming back.

The next reason I didn't want to start a blog is because finding a blog name that would grow with us through the years to represent our family would be nearly impossible for me. I had to find the perfect name (there's the perfectionist in me) and I must say I'm pretty happy with what I came up with. I would say we came up with, but Gary gets no credit for this because he had about a month to be thinking of a name and he gave me nothing to work with. So, last night I started thinking about the meaning of our last name Schaaf. which means shepherd. I immediately came up with Shepherding Our Flock, but we have friends with the last name Lamb and their blog is Our Flock so I would hate to be a copycat. Plus, flock to me means more than 5 sheep, which in turn, means more than 5 kids so I'm not sure we'll be having a flock of kids. :) So, the next obvious choice was Shepherding our Sheep. Pretty simplistic, but I'm starting to dig it! A sheep is a beautiful, gentle, humble, and—contrary to popular opinion—quite an intelligent animal. But unlike other animals, it has no sense of direction and no instinct for finding its way home. A sheep can be totally lost within a few miles of its home. Lost sheep usually will walk around in endless circles, in a state of confusion, unrest, and even panic. I thought this was a good analogy to how our kids are without parents who don't love, guide, and train them. On this earth, God has called me and Gary to be our children's Shepherd, their leader, protector, comforter, and guardian. Jesus is the perfect example of a loving shepherd. He epitomizes everything that a spiritual leader should be. Jesus called Himself the "Good Shepherd," who lays down His life for the sheep (John 10:11). He is our great Rescuer, Leader, Guardian, Protector, and Comforter. Shepherding the flock of God is an enormous task, but it brings the rich reward of the unfading crown of glory, which will be awarded by the Chief Shepherd Himself at his appearing (1 Pet. 5:4). This verse is directed toward the elders of the church, but I relate it to parenting as well. We are honored and humbled that God has called us to be the Shepherd of Our Sheep. Join us as we journey down the path of taking wrong turns and having lots of adventures!

Be sure to share your family blog so we can keep up with all of you. God Bless!!