{"id":2283,"date":"2015-04-29T09:43:46","date_gmt":"2015-04-29T14:43:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/davewillis\/?p=2283"},"modified":"2015-04-29T09:43:46","modified_gmt":"2015-04-29T14:43:46","slug":"5-house-rules-for-successful-families","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davewillis\/5-house-rules-for-successful-families\/","title":{"rendered":"5 House Rules for “Successful” Families"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"Dave<\/a><\/p>\n

I interact with\u00a0a lot of people, and almost all of them\u00a0want to be \u201csuccessful\u201d in their marriages and their parenting, but I\u2019m surprised at how few people actually have any kind of definition for what \u201csuccess\u201d actually means for their family. When asked, most folks sum up their philosophy by saying, \u201cWe\u2019re just trying to do the best we can<\/em>,\u201d which basically means \u201cWe\u2019re aiming for a bullseye in the dark and we have no way of knowing whether we\u2019re hitting it or not.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Our families\u00a0are far too important to exist without any real plan or definition for success. Legacy-defining issues of this magnitude can\u2019t be comprehensively addressed in a short blog post, but I want to give you some framework for how to start defining and achieving \u201csuccess\u201d in your own family.<\/p>\n

Based on what the Bible (the ultimate family resource guide) says about these issues and the examples of some exemplary families in modern times and throughout history, I\u2019ve boiled down these big issues into five key \u201cHouse Rules\u201d\u00a0listed below. If you\u2019ll implement these in your own home, I\u2019m convinced you\u2019ll be on a path to \u201csuccess\u201d that will create a positive legacy in your family for generations to come:<\/p>\n

As a \u201csuccessful\u201d family, we will always strive to\u2026<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

1. Value character over charisma.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We don\u2019t want to be impressive; we want to be real. In our home, we will not compromise our integrity to achieve popularity, accolades or monetary gain. We understand that any \u201csuccess\u201d that happens at the expense of our character is not really success.<\/p>\n

\"Dave<\/a><\/p>\n

2. Give each other unconditional love AND high expectations.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Most families are good at one or the other (or neither) of these, but both are incredibly important. Love must be given freely and without condition, but simultaneously, we must love each other enough to expect the best. In love, we propel each other on towards continuous improvement in all aspects of life (career, health, faith, academics, etc.)<\/p>\n

\"Dave<\/a><\/p>\n

3. Be there for each other.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Our families don\u2019t need more gifts or gadgets; they need more of us. They need our presence<\/em>, not our presents<\/em>. Our time is our greatest commodity and we should invest it into the relationships that matter most.<\/p>\n

\"Dave<\/a><\/p>\n

4. Always tell each other the truth.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Trust is the foundation of every healthy family, so we will fight for trust and always expect truth and honesty from each other. When we\u2019ve blown it, we\u2019ll be quick to admit it and we\u2019ll seek forgiveness and work to rebuilt trust.<\/p>\n

5. Never give up on each other!<\/strong><\/p>\n

A \u201cperfect family\u201d is just a group of imperfect people who refuse to give up on each other! In good times, celebrate with each other. In hard times, lean on each other. In all times, do life together.<\/p>\n

For daily tips and tools\u00a0to help you build a stronger family, please\u00a0connect with me on Facebook by clicking here.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

If this post\u00a0encouraged you, please share it using the links below so we can encourage others too!<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I interact with\u00a0a lot of people, and almost all of them\u00a0want to be \u201csuccessful\u201d in their marriages and their parenting, but I\u2019m surprised at how few people actually have any kind of definition for what \u201csuccess\u201d actually means for their family. When asked, most folks sum up their philosophy by saying, \u201cWe\u2019re just trying to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2136,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-family-and-parenthood"],"yoast_head":"\n5 House Rules for "Successful" Families<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I interact with\u00a0a lot of people, and almost all of them\u00a0want to be "successful" in their marriages and their parenting, but I'm surprised at how few\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davewillis\/5-house-rules-for-successful-families\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"5 House Rules for "Successful" Families\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I interact with\u00a0a lot of people, and almost all of them\u00a0want to be "successful" in their marriages and their parenting, but I'm surprised at how few\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davewillis\/5-house-rules-for-successful-families\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Dave Willis\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"www.facebook.com\/davewillis78\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-04-29T14:43:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/davewillis\/files\/2014\/02\/10438429_1394177570906310_5241142263588363056_n.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dave Willis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@davewillis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dave Willis\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davewillis\/5-house-rules-for-successful-families\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davewillis\/5-house-rules-for-successful-families\/\",\"name\":\"5 House Rules for \\\"Successful\\\" Families\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davewillis\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-04-29T14:43:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-04-29T14:43:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davewillis\/#\/schema\/person\/405a54fd607412e98990388e10f8adf6\"},\"description\":\"I interact with\u00a0a lot of people, and almost all of them\u00a0want to be \\\"successful\\\" in their marriages and their parenting, but I'm surprised at how few\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davewillis\/5-house-rules-for-successful-families\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davewillis\/5-house-rules-for-successful-families\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davewillis\/5-house-rules-for-successful-families\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davewillis\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"5 House Rules for “Successful” Families\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davewillis\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davewillis\/\",\"name\":\"Dave Willis\",\"description\":\"Building stronger marriages and happier families.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davewillis\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davewillis\/#\/schema\/person\/405a54fd607412e98990388e10f8adf6\",\"name\":\"Dave Willis\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davewillis\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b10699b14169d9060e994976e94fe6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b10699b14169d9060e994976e94fe6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dave Willis\"},\"description\":\"Dave Willis is a pastor, writer, podcaster and one of the most popular bloggers in America with more than one hundred million page views and counting. He and his wife Ashley are speakers for MarriageToday and co-creators of multiple marriage-based books, events and resources. Dave and Ashley live with their four young sons near Dallas, TX.\",\"sameAs\":[\"www.facebook.com\/davewillis78\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/davewillis\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davewillis\/author\/davewillis\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"5 House Rules for \"Successful\" Families","description":"I interact with\u00a0a lot of people, and almost all of them\u00a0want to be \"successful\" in their marriages and their parenting, but I'm surprised at how few","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davewillis\/5-house-rules-for-successful-families\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"5 House Rules for \"Successful\" Families","og_description":"I interact with\u00a0a lot of people, and almost all of them\u00a0want to be \"successful\" in their marriages and their parenting, but I'm surprised at how few","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davewillis\/5-house-rules-for-successful-families\/","og_site_name":"Dave Willis","article_author":"www.facebook.com\/davewillis78","article_published_time":"2015-04-29T14:43:46+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/davewillis\/files\/2014\/02\/10438429_1394177570906310_5241142263588363056_n.jpg"}],"author":"Dave Willis","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@davewillis","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dave Willis","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davewillis\/5-house-rules-for-successful-families\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davewillis\/5-house-rules-for-successful-families\/","name":"5 House Rules for \"Successful\" Families","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davewillis\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-04-29T14:43:46+00:00","dateModified":"2015-04-29T14:43:46+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davewillis\/#\/schema\/person\/405a54fd607412e98990388e10f8adf6"},"description":"I interact with\u00a0a lot of people, and almost all of them\u00a0want to be \"successful\" in their marriages and their parenting, but I'm surprised at how few","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davewillis\/5-house-rules-for-successful-families\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davewillis\/5-house-rules-for-successful-families\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davewillis\/5-house-rules-for-successful-families\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davewillis\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"5 House Rules for “Successful” Families"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davewillis\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davewillis\/","name":"Dave Willis","description":"Building stronger marriages and happier families.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davewillis\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davewillis\/#\/schema\/person\/405a54fd607412e98990388e10f8adf6","name":"Dave Willis","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davewillis\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b10699b14169d9060e994976e94fe6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b10699b14169d9060e994976e94fe6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dave Willis"},"description":"Dave Willis is a pastor, writer, podcaster and one of the most popular bloggers in America with more than one hundred million page views and counting. He and his wife Ashley are speakers for MarriageToday and co-creators of multiple marriage-based books, events and resources. Dave and Ashley live with their four young sons near Dallas, TX.","sameAs":["www.facebook.com\/davewillis78","https:\/\/twitter.com\/davewillis"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davewillis\/author\/davewillis\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davewillis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davewillis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davewillis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davewillis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2136"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davewillis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davewillis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2283\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davewillis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davewillis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davewillis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}