8 Tips on How to Create a Family Motto | Motherhood Monday

Guest post by: Toiia L. Rukuni How to Create a Family Motto

A family motto is used to promote unity and focus on a mutual philosophy. Many families adopt mottos or slogans as a guiding principal. Good family mottos should be powerful, short, and clear. The slogans are usually short so young children can understand remember and to encourage good behavior and choices. I decided to introduce the concept of a family to my family at the beginning of the school year. I thought that it would be a good way to motivate everyone as we were transitioning from summer back into the school routine.

I feel that a family motto helps to motivate parents, children, and the overall mission of the family. We decided as a family that our family motto is “Get ahead or Get Left Behind,” we decided on this motto based on all the different milestones that are family began to achieve; including the first year of Elementary starting kindergarten, making career changes, my thirteen month old daughter learning how to walk and talk, eating healthy as a family, making fitness and wellness goals, and striving to communicate and pray together daily to reach our spiritual goals.

We are determined to have a family motto in our family to start a tradition and create a legacy. We use “Never give up,” as another family motto to stay motivated in all things we do and to remember to walk by faith and not by sight. I believe that these family mottos help to instill a sense of pride and purpose in my children. They help to keep us connected as a family and to know our mission for the week, year, and for life.

Choosing a Family Motto

• Sit down with family with writing pens, and distribute them to each member of the family giving them the opportunity to share their ideas with the family.

• Schedule a meeting that everyone can attend parents, children, grandparents if they reside with you, and close family friends that help in the daily life of your family.

• Explain what a family motto is and its purpose. Keep it simple so the younger children can grasp the concept.

• Give examples of commercial mottos like “Just Do it,” and “Have it your way.”

• Write down the suggestions and ask for feedback.

• Ask each member of the family to write their idea down on paper and share with each other verbally and on paper.

• Once the family selects a motto, print out a few copies.

• Use the slogan as often as possible, and agree to meet once or twice a year with the family to discuss the slogan and entertain suggestions for revision.

What is your family motto?

 

Biography:

Toiia L. Rukuni is a writer, poet, teacher, wife, mother, entrepreneur, and community activist residing in Atlanta, Georgia. Currently she is working on a travel memoir about her travels to Harare, Zimbabwe and South Africa, and hopes to complete it by mid-to late 2016. Her first book of poetry “Daughter of the Diaspora Freedom from Within,” was completed in 2010.  She plans on creating an ebook of the same title. She recently started her own blog World of the Net in August 2013. She has contributed to other blogs such as Empress Chronicle and Bernetta Style. She recently received the Leibster Blog Award. She enjoys traveling, reading, working out, and practicing yoga.  In the future she plans on writing her second book of poetry and a children’s book. She is a graduate of Michigan State University, with a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education with minors in English and History. She completed her Master’s degree in Family Studies and minored in African Studies.

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