Discover Your Child's Heart with the
Kids Flag Page
Kids Flag Page
This is a resource created by Tim Kimmel and Mark Gungor. "Consider this the operating manual that SHOULD have come with each of your kids...BUT DIDN'T."
Having seven children you think I would have figured out this parenting thing by now...but having seven children has shown me just how much I still need to learn! What works for one of my children does absolutely no good with another. What motivates one, frustrates another!
I found this resource and thought I would give it a try. It is a "game" for a parent and child to do together. At the end, you will have a great handle of who your child is and what is needed to motivate them. The guide says it works best with children from 6-11, but I used it on my 14 year old as well.
This is the best parenting tool I have ever used! What I learned from doing this one on one with each of my children has opened my eyes up in a way to understand them and their unique personalities and how to parent them individually. 
To begin you find a quiet place to play the game one on one with your child. They look at each of the cards and decide if it is Always Me, Sometimes Me, or Never Me. The cards say things like, "I think it's possible" or "I like things to stay calm" etc. All the cards reflect one of the four "Home Countries" (The Perfect Country, The Peace Country, The Control Country, and The Fun Country) The child puts the cards in one of the three piles according to how they see themselves (not how mom or dad sees them). Then they choose their top 6 from the Always Me pile and then out of the 6 they choose their favorite. 
From the way they place their cards the parent tallies them up and finds out the "Home Country" and the "Adopted Country". There is a book that goes along with the game that helps to explain what each country means and things you see from children that belong to the four different countries. The thing that was extremely insightful was understanding how the Home Country and the Adopted Country play out together in how children act and respond to situations. This was the so eye opening to me to help me see into the heart of my children. It was an incredible blessing and has helped me in parenting them according to what motivates and encourages them, rather than what could hurt my relationship with them. 
You can find this resource at Family Matters. There are four flag pages in each game, enough to do with four children. If you need more flag pages you can order additional pages separate from the game itself. If you use this resource post a comment and let me know what you think about it!
