Patience, honesty, forgiveness, contentment, kindness, and diligence are all character traits that I value and want to instill in my children. Even though I want to see my children practicing and internalizing these virtuous character traits, as a busy parent, it’s difficult to find the time to teach these virtues on a daily basis.
This month I got some help from We Choose Virtues!
I was able to review the Parenting Cards in NIrV ($38.49), along with the WCV Download Bundle ($7.99), with my kids.
Parenting Cards
These Parenting Cards were developed to help families and homeschools teach character traits to their children in a FUN way. These full color cardstock cards are 8.5″ x 5.5″ and are sized perfectly for the front of a fridge. These cards are best suited to children in early childhood through elementary school, ages 3-11.
The Parenting Cards include the following 12 virtue cards:
- I am Attentive
- I am Content
- I am Diligent
- I am Forgiving
- I am Gentle
- I am Honest
- I am Helpful
- I am Kind
- I am Obedient
- I am Patient
- I am Perseverant
- I am Self-Controlled
The front of each card contains the name of the virtue, a catchy phrase to memorize, a Bible verse (either KJV or NIrV), antonyms of the virtue, and the featured “Virtue Kid”.
The backside of the card contains a short story featuring the “Virtue Kid”, a virtue user challenge, “What to Say After ‘I’m sorry'”, teaching tips for discussions or activities, and a quote about the virtue.
The We Choose Virtues Download Bundle contains Kids of VirtueVille coloring book, teachers handbook, a family character assessment, and butterfly awards (printable certificates).
How We Used the Parenting Cards
We started out this program by filling out the family character assessment. My son (third grade) and I determined where our character stood, on a scale of 1 to 10, and then we circled the appropriate number. By taking the assessment at the beginning of the program we were able to see how far our character has grown in the weeks to come. We reassessed our character later on in the program and were able to evaluate how we’ve changed. And there were good changes to report!
We started with the kindness virtue because that is a trait that I really wanted to see more of in myself and in my kids. I printed out the coloring page that corresponded to the kindness virtue and my son colored while I read the Kids of VirtueVille story from the back of the card. We discussed the card and what it meant to be kind as well as what types of actions and words are were unkind.
I placed the card up on the fridge for us all to see and be reminded of throughout the week. During the rest of the week, we worked on memorizing the Bible verse, Job 10:12, from the front of the kindness card as well as the catch phrase, “I treat others the way I like to be treated”. I really liked the teaching tip on the back of the card and decided to implement it in our home. The tip was, “Every time a mean word is said or action is done, say or do 5 kind things to cancel it out.” We found that 5 kind things was a little too much so we narrowed it down to 3 kind things. I thought this was a great consequence to implement for being unkind.
We worked on one virtue per week. The cards are supposed to take only 10 minutes a day. After the first day of reading the story to the kids, each day we reviewed the Bible verse and the catch phrase for the rest of the week and discussed the importance of the virtue. Throughout the day I would keep an eye out for moments when kindness, obedience, or forgiveness needed to be reinforced or rewarded.
My son was great at memorizing the catch phrases! Sometimes when I would ask him to clear the table or put his laundry away he would hop to it and sing, “OK, whatever you say, I will obey, right away.” That makes a mommy’s heart happy!
My Thoughts
I think they parenting cards were a great fit for us. They served as a great reminder throughout the day for me to continually work on these virtues with my kids. And I loved having them on my fridge as a visual reminder for everyone, especially the kids.
I had a little trouble getting started with the parenting cards. The teacher’s handbook that came in the download wasn’t as helpful as I hoped it would be. It was geared more towards a teacher with a classroom of students. I was really looking for a weekly schedule of suggested activities to do with my kids each day of the week but I couldn’t find anything like that. Maybe I was making the cards more complicated than they were meant to be. After I realized that all the teaching tips were included on the back of each card, and it was meant to be a simple 10 minute review, it was easier to implement each virtue.
I’m not sure that I would’ve ever purchased these cards on my own. At almost $40, it seems like quite a lot of money for a package of parenting cards. They have been helpful, though, and maybe that’s where their value comes in.
We are going to continue using the cards in the years to come in hopes that my kids will continue to grow in good character.
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