There are affiliate links in this article, at no additional cost to you.
For more information, please click here.

February is Individual Worth month- focused on loving ourselves and others more fully. If you missed week one of Individual Worth resources, you can find them here. 
If you want find other resources for specific Character Traits of the month, you can click here.

by Jennifer Zumbiel

I used to teach high school social studies. I can remember two students, in particular, who would each stay after class to talk to me or stop by after school. As the school year went on, they would open up and come to me about more important subjects: what to do for college, how to talk to their parents, what to do with friends. These weren’t students who were natural talkers. They were maybe even a little more introverted, but something made them feel comfortable with me. We had created a relationship built on trust and comfort and they knew that they were welcome in my classroom at anytime free of judgment.

There are affiliate links in this article, at no additional cost to you.
For more information, please click here.

It's February! It is sometimes called "The Love Month" or "Single Awareness Month" among other things. But at Raise The Good, Individual Worth is the Character Trait of the Month, and I've got some great resources for you to share with your family about loving ourselves and others better.

I've listed two resources for every age group for this week because this seems do-able and no one one likes to be overwhelmed. Check back every week for more Character Trait of the Month resources to use with your family!

by Jessee Stewart

My motive in sharing these thoughts is to bring peace, not to inflame the issue. My message is one that I hope will bring healing and hope.

Life is messy, complex and imperfect. All of our lives have messy portions, and perhaps messiness that our closest loved ones don’t know about. I haven’t lived your life, your pain, and you haven’t lived mine. I feel like acknowledging that we are all coming from different places is necessary to have an open conversation. I hope we can agree in the end, but if we don’t, let’s not hate the other.

I have given birth to four children. Two of those wonderful children are buried in a peaceful cemetery near my parent’s home. Two of those wonderful children are healthy, funny, energetic, and challenge me as a parent daily.

If you've been following along lately and have been using these resources to teach your kids self discipline, this object lesson will be a perfect activity for your family. It's also great if you want to teach your kids that choices have consequences. Plus, it's customizable!

I've done this activity a couple of different times with teen girls in my church youth group and it's been fantastic. Think of a traditional make-your-own-ice-cream-sundae party. . . with a twist! (To give credit where credit is due, I heavily leaned on this post from Dirty Dishes, Messy Kisses as I was planning my own activity. I changed the questions to suit our purposes, but it provided a lot of great inspiration. Check it out!

It goes without saying, that self-discipline is one of the most vital character traits that we can teach our children. It's also one of the hardest!

But never fear, I've compiled a list of 24 plug-and-play, no preparation needed, resources to help you do it! These feature books, movies, video clips and/or other resources to help elementary age children, teens, and YOU focus on developing self discipline all month long.

Music is powerful. But music mixed with talented videography that celebrates the life of Jesus Christ and all that He stood for? THAT is soul touching, happy tear inducing, and will bring the spirit of Christmas into your home faster than just about anything else. 

I've collected my absolute favorite music videos to share with you, as you try to bring the true meaning of Christmas into your family's hearts.

Want to protect your child? Of course you do- we all do! And I've got a fantastic set of tools for you.

Now, I'm not talking about protecting them from physical harm, but from unscrupulous salesmen, advertising and marketing specialists, journalists with an agenda and bad relationships. And if you ask me, this type of harm can be a lot more common than their chances of getting hurt physically.

We can protect them by teaching critical thinking. Sadly, this vital skill doesn't always come naturally, and it's not often taught in schools. I don't want my children to be taken advantage of, and I know you don't want this to happen to your kids either- and that's why I'm sharing these awesome tools with you today.

These great tools require no prep, are perfect for afterschool teaching,  and are easy  to understand. So in other words, they are practically perfect in every way!

It's Christmas time- let the buying frenzy begin!

Just kidding. However, are you ever at a loss as to what to get people and find yourself just giving "stuff"? I've been there before- and I hate it.  So I put together a list of gifts that have been LOVED, USED and ADORED by those who have them. I hope you find it useful!

We've all been there, right? Where we are so. tired. we. can't. move.

And sometimes these days extend into weeks. Survival mode is no fun, and mom guilt ON TOP OF survival mode? That's just plain brutal. Health problems, pregnancy, emotional difficulties, lack of sleep, or just a crazy schedule can bring us all to our knees at one time or another. And now, Christmas is coming as well- with all the (fun) but hard work that is associated with that.

But no matter how tired we are, kids still need to be fed, their screen time needs to be limited, and we definitely don't want any fighting or whining! While we are dreaming, it would also be ideal if they were learning something. . .

But how? How do we do take care of the kids and still take care of ourselves? I don't have all the answers (besides feed them cold cereal for dinner), but I do have one great tip: