These Parenting Tips Will Shape Your Home’s Atmosphere for the Better
By Movieguide® Contributor
Candace Cameron Bure recently hosted Dr. Josh and Christi Straub on her podcast to learn how parents can build a good atmosphere for their home.
“I always talk about fighting for peace in your home,” Dr. Josh began. “You have to war for peace; you have to pray into it, have to fight for it, because the world is trying to create, it’s just chaos, right, and so we have to pay attention to the atmosphere of our home to identify how we can make sure that our homes are that place of [peace].”
Movieguide® previously reported on the Straubs:
Parenting and helping families succeed has been at the forefront of Josh and Christi’s life, and they have now turned it into an organization called Famous at Home.
Through their organization, the Straubs “help leaders and families cultivate emotional connection and spiritual growth.”
For homes that could use some more peace, Dr. Josh encourages parents to determine the area that needs improvement and devise a plan to work on it.
“Maybe it’s exhaustion, maybe it’s anger, maybe it’s complaining, maybe it’s fear. What is the spirit in your home that you just feel like this is bringing us all down as a family and identifying that and being able to say, ‘Okay, what is one small shift we can make to be able to start shifting the atmosphere?’”
When the Straubs assessed that their home had a spirit of too much complaining, they made a “complaining jar.” Every time a child complained, they had to put a quarter in the jar. When it got full, they donated the money to the church or to another good cause.
“Part of that was to go, ‘Let’s help out others and realize how grateful we actually are,’” he continued. “We don’t need to be complaining and grumbling about things that we don’t need to be complaining and grumbling about and then we flipped it so that if the kids caught us grumbling and complaining we had to put a dollar in the jar, and so it was one of those things that really held everybody accountable, but we all paid attention to it. So now all of a sudden everyone is paying attention to who’s grumbling, who’s complaining, and it started to shift slowly the atmosphere of our home.”
“So…just simply make a shift as to what that could be. It could very well be too that it’s something in your marriage, you know? One of the things that Christie and I decided to do recently is we have this porch swing, and just after the kids were in bed, we were realizing we weren’t connecting as much, and we were at each other a little bit,” he said. “…That allowed us to be able to reconnect on what the week was happening, what the next day was going to hold, and it just started to shift.”
Once they made time to talk about their schedule together, they found that they and their home were happier, and they treated each other better.
Josh, Christi and their organization often share parenting tips on social media, podcasts and speaking events. One tip Josh frequently encourages parents to do is to get down on their children’s level when they’re having high emotions.
In another episode with Bure and on Instagram Josh told parents, “Sit with your kids until they calm down and then enter into their world” because their brain is too overwhelmed to handle instruction or correction without being calmed first.
The Straubs’ book, “Famous at Home,” teaches parents how to make family one of their top priorities in a time when parents are pulled away by many other distractions — more than ever before.
The Straubs say, “You really can be famous at home, showing up in intentional and meaningful ways for your biggest fans. It all starts by realizing that the greatest red carpet you’ll ever walk is through your front door.”
