Our Family Mantra

TEAM MONSON
Be True. Love Even More. Always Improve. Make It Happen


For family night a couple of months ago, we decided to make a family mantra; something that defines our family and lets our children know what we stand for. We refer to our family as Team Monson, because we are teaching Thais and Sky that we really are in fact a team. We have to work together, treat our "teammates" with respect, and cheer each other on along the way. I think the team analogy works well for kids because everyone wants to be part of a team, and with sports and other activities they are doing it resonates well.

We also decided to use the letter in the word TEAM to further define our family values.

T= True. Be True. I love the quote by Pres. Hinckley "Be true to who you are (a son or daughter of God) and to the family name you bear!" We also use this as a way of teaching our kids to tell the truth. Instead of telling Thais to simply tell the truth when a lie has been told, we say, "Thais, Monsons are True!" It seems to sink in deeper with kids when they are trying to stay in line with what the whole family does, rather than what they should do alone.

E=Even. As in Love EVEN More. I love the Eyres idea of LOVE MORE and we decided to tweak it to love EVEN more. Wouldn't our families and our world be better if we all just loved even harder?

A=Always Improve. We don't want to set a precedence in our home that our children have to be perfectionists or perfect for that matter; but they can ALWAYS be improving. They can improve in their studies, improve their talents, improve their testimonies, improve their ability to serve...whatever it may be we can always work to be better.

M=Make it happen. I love this one. Jordan grew up with the philosophy that the impossible just takes a few more minutes. We want our kids to work; to learn the value of doing something hard.
I absolutely adore it when Thais does something she has deemed difficult, because to see the joy and excitement she emits afterword is priceless.


So there you have it. Small miracles have been taking place in our home since putting our mantra into action. I highly recommend trying one for your family...I'd love to hear what they are!