Bruce hasn’t been on the show since Episode 38. And that just doesn’t seem right.

So today (on my birthday!!) I’m chatting with my hubby about what we’ve been up to lately. In particular, the last year learning more about our strengths and our boys’ strengths.

In that self-discovery process we found “intentionality” low on both Bruce & my strengths list. Which means we aren’t chore chart kinda people. And our home reflected that lack of responsibility training.

One weekend while I was on a craft retreat Bruce decided to try something he learned at a work conference. He calls it “goals and roles”.

What if as a family we communicated our goals to each other and held each other accountable?  What if we made the roles of each person more clear and gave them ownership fulfill those roles?  Lastly, what if we aligned those goals and roles to the unique strengths of each person (our superpowers)?

God made every single person on this planet unique. I believe He planned in advance a purpose for each person to accomplish. Thankfully, He specifically equipped each of us for that purpose.

Each of us are unique, and especially in the case of children they have natural strengths that are not yet fully developed.  We can identify these strengths – such as “making new friends”, “power of persuasion” and “persistence”. Instead of seeing the ‘Achilles Heel’ side of a strength, what if we embraced it and helped develop it. Believing a hope-filled truth instead of a toxic thought.

As you listen to this episode I don’t want you to compare and contrast your family to ours. Instead I hope our story empowers you to discover each of your family member’s superpowers. And figure out how y’all function best to fulfill what God has planned for your family to do. That may just be using charts. Or not.

**With Easter this coming weekend, if you are looking for a Christ-centered way to do Easter baskets. . .check out this oldie but goodie blog post: “Making Easter Personal for Preschoolers”.

What we chat about:

* What Bruce has learned from reading presidential biographies sequentially.

* Our nerdy obsession with StrengthsFinder.

* How Bruce applied “Goals & Roles” to helping teach our boys responsibility (and be more intentional ourselves).

* Labeling our kiddos superpowers.

* Believing hope-filled truth instead of toxic thoughts about our boys.

Links Mentioned:

* Bruce’s previous two episodes: Family Mission Trips (Ep 5) & Demanding Jobs (Ep 38)

* StrengthsFinder 

* Strength Explorer for kid

* Amazon Echo

* Evernote app

* Connected Families

* Casting a Vision for your challenging child

How to listen to the podcast:

1.Listen on the blog.