When life was seemingly โ€œnormalโ€ before coronavirus hit, our lives as parents were busy, we felt somewhat tired and sometimes overwhelmed by the pace of daily life but we had options and many ways to keep our children engaged. 

I am sure you like me and all people around the world are finding ways of adjusting to this new way of living and boy is it challenging. This is an intense time for all of us. With all the uncertainty, loss of life and grief the coronavirus outbreak brings, I also believe it brings with it a great opportunity for ๐—ณ๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ถ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ๐—ด๐—ฒ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ and ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ต ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ถ๐—ฟ ๐—ณ๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ถ๐—น๐˜† ๐˜ƒ๐—ฎ๐—น๐˜‚๐—ฒ๐˜€. 

These values are personal and depend on family to family. Your family values, essentially are what your family stands for and this is also a great way to hold everyone in the home accountable (I will explore this further in a follow up post). For now the focus is on family values. Today I invite you to ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜ ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฎ ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—ถ๐—ป๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—ณ๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ถ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜€. Put technology away, get to know each other, help your children find their inner strength, find your own inner strength. ๐—–๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ ๐˜ƒ๐—ฎ๐—น๐˜‚๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ฏ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ณ๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ถ๐—น๐˜† ๐˜‚๐—ป๐—ถ๐˜. 

At the SoMi Centre we work a set of โ€œfoundational valuesโ€ and you can use these as a starting point to establishing your own family values. The SoMi foundational values of success are ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜ | ๐—›๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜๐˜† | ๐—–๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ด๐—ฒ | ๐—–๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐˜๐˜† | ๐—ข๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ | ๐—˜๐—ป๐˜๐—ต๐˜‚๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐—บ | ๐——๐—ฒ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—บ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป | ๐—ฃ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ | ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ฏ๐—ถ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜๐˜† | ๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ณ-๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฒ | ๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ธ๐—ณ๐˜‚๐—น๐—ป๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€ | ๐—›๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฝ๐—ณ๐˜‚๐—น๐—ป๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€ | ๐—ž๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€ | ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป | ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ | ๐—”๐˜€๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€ ๐—›๐—ผ๐˜„ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚ ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐˜‚๐˜€๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐˜€๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ต ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ถ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—ผ๐˜„๐—ป ๐—ณ๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ถ๐—น๐˜† ๐˜ƒ๐—ฎ๐—น๐˜‚๐—ฒ๐˜€. - 

Take a moment and reflect on each one of these values with your children - Ask them what they think each one means if they donโ€™t understand explain it to them - Create a definition of each value (especially the ones you may choose for your family) - Give an example of how a specific value can be used in daily life within the home and also in society. - Ask your children which values they believe apply to your family and why? A great activity to compliment this is to start having daily family reflection time. ๐—ฆ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜ ๐—ฎ ๐—ณ๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ถ๐—น๐˜† ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ธ๐—ณ๐˜‚๐—น ๐—ท๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—น. 

Each day find a convenient time to sit in a circle on the floor or at the table and let everyone have a chance to say what they are thankful for. Record this in a little book, if you have very little kids they can draw their thankful and you can write it down. When the crisis is over it will be great to look back and see what we were most thankful for in a time of great challenge. It is CRITICAL now more than ever that families have clarity on their own ๐˜ƒ๐—ฎ๐—น๐˜‚๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐˜€๐˜‚๐—ฐ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€ to keep families and children strong and working together. For if this is achieved, children and families will return when this crisis is over, with renewed energy, with a desire for life ready to face any challenge and know that ๐˜ƒ๐—ฎ๐—น๐˜‚๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜ ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ ๐˜€๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ต๐˜‚๐—บ๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐˜€๐—ฝ๐—ถ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜ ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜ ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ ๐—ฏ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐—ป 

P.s. remember to #stayhome