Our Family Creed

I know it’s not the best photo, so here’s what it says:

The Heikka Family Creed

Heikkas share.
Heikkas keep their word.
Heikkas obey.
Heikkas let others go first.
Heikkas don’t whine.
Heikkas respect others.
Heikkas leave no one behind.
Heikkas act like gentlemen and ladies.
Heikkas don’t quit.
Heikkas don’t boast.
Heikkas do everything as if unto the Lord.

Mike and I eagerly shared the creed with our kids and it gave us a new framework to talk about the importance of things like letting others go first, not leaving anyone behind, never quitting, and always respecting others.

We made copies and taped it to each of their bedroom doors.

Sometimes the tape would lose its stick and the creeds would fall to the floor, but we’d always put them back up. And after a while, our kids even had the creed memorized. They could proudly recite it on their own.

It was helpful as a parent to be able to refer to it over the years, reminding the kids as they’d fight over a toy…

“Heikkas share,” or as they’d tell us about someone at school who was getting left out…”Heikkas don’t leave anyone behind,”

or if they weren’t putting their full effort into something…”Heikkas don’t quit.”

As the kids have gotten older,  they have needed less reminding. And, I admit, we haven’t read or even talked about our Family Creed in a while. In fact, one time when the copy on my son’s door fell off, instead of taping it back up right away, I set it on his dresser and made a mental note to get to it later.

I didn’t think he had noticed that it had fallen.

Until I walked into his room and saw this…