S/O Family Mottos

[unsinkable]

From the "parental involvement" thread...

Just for fun:

What is your family motto?

It can something you truly have and use now, something you aspire to, something serious, humorous...something that expresses (momentary, hopefully) frustration or...anything "MOTTO-Y."

[maize]

"We can do hard things."

 

[Momto6inIN]

"I just had a thought."

"Really? Just one?"

[Lecka]

“We are a team.”

Or “We are Team [Last Name].”

Or just “Team [Last Name].”

Edited November 16, 2019 by Lecka

[Momto6inIN]

Another one - "You don't have to if you get to." 

[happi duck]

"Grow in your own sweet way"

[Sk8ermaiden]

Don't die? It seems like it should be, I say it a lot...

[HomeAgain]

5 minutes ago, Sk8ermaiden said:

Don't die? It seems like it should be, I say it a lot...

This is how I tell my oldest "I love you" every time he drives off. 😄

The rest of the family follows that up with "Don't take drugs!"

I, uh, I'll have to think harder about a family motto.

[lewelma]

I assume you read mine on the thread!  "We're a family so we help each other out."

[Guest]

Dh has several things he likes to say, which are things his father said to him. A common one is: “When you’re ripe, you’re rotten; when you’re green, you grow.” Said to an overconfident child who doesn’t want to hear advice. 

One that I say in my own head and have used as a guidepost throughout my years of motherhood is: “Make sure the message of love gets through.” I picked this up from an unlikely source (unlikely because I generally don’t like this man’s parenting philosophy) but this was something Dr. Dobson (Focus on the Family) once said and I thought that was very good advice. 

[BakersDozen]

"Our family works because we work together."

"Remember Whose you are." (Said to our kids as they head out to be with others in hopes they will remember that He is going with them.)

[fairfarmhand]

Mine is a little less inspirational. This is what I say when I send my kids off someplace without me, like to field trips or to someone else's house. 

 

"Don't be stupid."

[rebcoola]

Ours is “Well that escalated quickly”

[MrsMommy]

I'm not sure it counts as a motto, but probably the most often-uttered phrase around here is "It's nice to be nice!"

[edelweiss]

48 minutes ago, fairfarmhand said:

Mine is a little less inspirational. This is what I say when I send my kids off someplace without me, like to field trips or to someone else's house. 

 

"Don't be stupid."

I often tell mine, "Make Good Choices!"

[teachermom2834]

“Keep going!”

Not really a family motto but it has become a frequent text I send my college kids and a response to many of their day to day frustrations. We had some hard times when they were in high school and we’ve been operating on variations of “tough times don’t last, tough people do” and “when you are going through hell keep going.” Also “the sun will come up tomorrow.” 

Perseverance really seems to be key for our family 

[aggie96]

2 hours ago, Quill said:

Dh has several things he likes to say, which are things his father said to him. A common one is: “When you’re ripe, you’re rotten; when you’re green, you grow.” Said to an overconfident child who doesn’t want to hear advice. 

 

I LOVE this!

[aggie96]

We have the same as several PP.

"Last Name" Crew (have CREW spelled out in big metal letters in living area, used a lot)

"Make good decisions."

"Don't die."

"There's more than one way to skin a cat." --gruesome but true

"Work hard, smile a lot." 

"If you can make 10s, you can rule the world." --from elem. math days that stuck around for no explainable reason. :)

But our favorite (from a 1980s Cathy character poster my mom bought in a garage sale that I still have these many years later):
"You are talented, gifted, creative, charming, brilliant, beautiful, sweet, thoughtful, witty, clever, gorgeous, dynamic, and a joy to be around." ~signed your Mother

All 3 kids have this memorized. It's something I used to say every night to them tucking them into bed.

 

 

[Junie]

Embrace the Weirdness.

[hippiemamato3]

One day at a time. 

[lauraw4321]

“Never give up” is our official motto. If you ask our kids, “what’s the [] family motto?” They will answer “never give up!”  Usually with a big groan. 

We also say ( a lot) “everyone works.”  We talk about how everyone contributes as they are able. My kids know a lot of SAHMs (and I’ve been one myself) and that’s where the conversation started (Ms. so and so doesn’t work!  Oh, yes she does. She works very hard).

[Miss Tick]

Persistence.

That is where we excel. Every year or two I give a rousing speech about it. We are not flashy brilliant, we aren't exceptionally passionate, but we stay the course.

[MysteryJen]

The quote from Churchill in my signature is the official family motto: Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.

unoffical motto: work hard, have fun.

said at countless practice, meet, game drop offs and it's how I sign my letters to the older kids.

[Corraleno]

2 hours ago, aggie96 said:

"You are talented, gifted, creative, charming, brilliant, beautiful, sweet, thoughtful, witty, clever, gorgeous, dynamic, and a joy to be around." ~signed your Mother

All 3 kids have this memorized. It's something I used to say every night to them tucking them into bed.

I love that. ❤️ 

I used to say "love you always and forever no matter what" every night when I tucked my kids in. Now that they're (mostly) grown, sometimes I just text "always & forever" and they text back "nmw" (no matter what). 

[Sk8ermaiden]

Oh, I think I thought of our real one. 

Whenever our kids go off to a class or practice I tell them, "Be good, work hard, have fun!" Pretty much sums it up.

[aggie96]

My husband also started a little hand signal that means "I love you". He would flash that to a kiddo when they were on stage or after dropping them off, or as they took the field, or after a great performance, or after a rough performance, etc.  The kids flash it to us, and we flash back or vice versa. This has been extra special through the years because it's like a secret, only-us in the midst of a crowd thing that we do. I thought it was corny at first but am soooooo happy to have it now. 

[May]

Be a _ _ _ _ _ _ _, not a whiner. Our last name rhymes with whiner😊

[wintermom]

"Never in doubt, often in error." 

We tried to translate it into Latin, too. 

It is more of a jokemoto for our youngest ds who speaks confidently about everything. 😉 

[Beth S]

I'm all teared up.
This is one of the best WTM threads ever.

[AmandaVT]

"Assume goodness" - we remind each other of this all the time. 

[Terabith]

"I must not fear.  Fear is the mind killer.  Fear is the little death that brings total oblivion.  I will face my fear.  I will permit it to pass over me and through me.  And when it has gone past, I will turn my inward eye to see its path.  Where the fear has gone, there will be nothing.  Only I will remain."  

Totally serious.  We each own a tshirt with the litany against fear on it.  We quote it over and over.  We memorize it and treat it as sacred scripture.