7 Ways to Teach our Children to Live Intentionally

Last week I shared with you all 7 Ways to Cultivate Simple in a Busy World. Since that day I’ve been pondering ways of teaching the idea of simple intentional living to our children. They are being faced with a unique growing-up experience – in a world saturated with media and speed and information – one in which we must teach them to step away from the allure of busy and to live intentionally.

The digital race of our world isn’t going to slow down.

We have an opportunity to create balance, to teach direction, and to cultivate an ordering of days and posture of intentional living within the lives of our children.

Here are seven ways to begin to cultivate intentional living within our children’s lives.

1. Create Space within their Day. As parents we have the blessing to be the ones to initially create space within our children’s lives. Just as we love those blank space days – you know, the ones where there is nothing scheduled – we can begin to establish moments within their lives that are simply breaks. And, then gradually, rather than being thought of as breaks, they can become habits, days where we guard our time and simply allow ourselves to breathe. So as you’re looking through those catalogs full of opportunity, remember truly, less is more. Choose wisely. And keep space.

2. Establish Media Rules. If they are babes, establish your media/screen time rules now. If they’re older, again, figure them out now. Do not put off establishing media limits. Media and screen time – it is not bad thing as we live in a world saturated with it, and honestly, I want my children to know how to use it well.  I also want them to know how to manage media and to not allow it’s never-ending urgent cry to be understood for what it is and to learn how to turn it off. Begin to create limits for media – and include what is included in media time. Phone? Ipad? Computer? TV? It’s all there, all media. Not bad, but needing to be managed or else it will manage you and their schedules.

3. Teach them to Listen. I am not talking about listening to you. Rather, the lost art of listening in a conversation and to others. Our culture, in it’s racing by and clipped conversations, needs individuals who listen. But, listening? It’s a lost art. And, it’s one that must be put into practice and learned. So teach them to listen. Here’s a simple way to practice listening – have conversations where one person talks and then the other repeats back stating, “what I heard is…..” Go back and forth this way. Learning to listen? That is, will be, and is always, a needed, necessary, and intentional skill.

4. Break the Illusion of Advertisements. Have you ever watched television with your kids? The advertisements are crazy – fast, loud, full-of-catchy tunes – and our kids are saturated with them. Besides investing in DVR {worth every cent} so that you can fast forward through commercials or getting rid of the television all together {which we haven’t done} we absolutely must begin to break the illusion of we gotta have it – I need it – this will make my life perfect that advertisers press on our family. Our kids? They’re being lied to by the advertisers {as are all of us}. Stuff doesn’t make us – happy thinner perfect without problems full of joy – those are just words we’re being fed to purchase a product that makes someone else money. When our kids learn this – then they can begin to answer advertisements with the words yeah right and I don’t think so and no, I don’t need that. Less is better, more creates clutter.

5. Guard their Morning.  Create routine. I’ve found that a calmer morning helps with a calmer day. Choose clothes the night before, create ten minutes of quiet time space within the morning for them. Add buffer time in your mornings for the inevitable I don’t want to wear this and I can’t find that and cranky moods. We can teach them the habit of starting mornings with a tiny window of quiet before they begin the race of a day. This habit? It can be carried with them through adulthood.

6. Gratitude as a Way of Life. Nothing breaks entitlement like gratitude. Thinking back to the advertisement illusion – often we’ll start talking about all we do have and all that we are incredibly thankful for in our lives. Create those gratitude lists with your children. Work as a family to save money to help others. Volunteer. Instead of creating an ego-kid-centric environment one of our goals is to open our children’s eyes to a world beyond themselves. And that can mean sharing with siblings, saving money to help buy food for Feed My Starving Children, and writing simple notes of thanks and gratitude for all the blessings they do have in their lives. We, as parents, can bless our children with eyes to see beyond simply self.

7. Practice what you Preach. Ah yes. yes, this. Just as everything above is needed for our families, it is also needed in our own lives. I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again – they watch us. They watch our time on media, our attitude of gratitude, how we spend our mornings, how much we listen, and consume, and chose to live. One of the best ways that I’ve found to establish a posture of living simple and intentional in this busy world is to write goals and ways to live down and in a place for all to see. Maybe this month your family is going to adopt a heart of gratitude. Write it down, put it up, and talk about it throughout the day. Make it known that in our family we live grateful. And, remember, give yourself grace. We all have days that aren’t the best – give yourself grace – get up and try again.

Bottom line again? It’s adopting the posture of slowing down, loving the little things, and seeing the beauty in the everyday.

This is just seven out of the many, many ways to teach our children to live intentional lives.

What are ways that you cultivate intentional living in your children’s lives?

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