Learn why meaningful conversations can help your kids discover and own important values that will help them through life.

Talking Points:

  • The Principle of Discovery: Parents need to teach their kids values. The best way to do that is through meaningful conversation where kids begin to internalize those values as they understand them.  
  • The Principle of Ownership: This is where kids put their values into everyday life and learn from the consequences of their choices along the way.  
  • The Principle of Empowerment: The goal is not just to influence children to make good decisions and hold a sense of morality.  It is to empower them to help others around them and then become healthy and productive leaders and parents.
Discussion:
  1. Initial reactions to this topic? What jumped out at you?
  2. How do you normally react to your children when they do something wrong?
  3. Think about the principles in this topic. When you were growing up, did your parents/guardians use principles similar to this? Explain.
  4. Think of a value or principle that you are struggling to help your child understand. How have you tried to promote understanding in the past? How could you adapt the FLEX principles into your communication with your child regarding that value or principle?
  5. What’s one of the important values that you learned “the hard way”? How could you help your child discover, take ownership of, and be empowered in that value?
  6. Take a moment to think about what makes a situation with your child result in high-stress or overreaction on your part. How can you avoid that in the future and turn the situation toward a meaningful conversation with your child?
  7. Is there a step you need to take based on today’s topic?