1. Eat as many meals as you can together at the table.
2. Make greetings important. Good morning kisses and hugs, good night chats, stories, prayers and tucking in. Greetings after separation are even more important: take time to reconnect after school or day care. Powerful greetings include physical contact, making eye contact (getting down if they’re very little), and debriefing about days. Your kids are never too old for physical affection.
3. Limit screen time as much as possible. Challenging but not impossible. Will they be noisier and messier without their screens? Maybe. Will you have a more creative, calm, connected child in the long run? Absolutely.
4. Keep weekends and school holidays for family time only. Kids spend enough time together when they’re at school. They don’t need play dates, sleep overs or social media. They need time to reconnect with you and other family members. If they have siblings, help them be best friends. If they don’t, make an effort with cousins.
5. Be selective about their friends from a young age and then form relationships with their friends’ families. If you think this sounds mean or creepy, you haven’t had a teenager yet. Raising children was meant to be done in community. Form your own either through extended family or friends who share the same values as you.

Bonus — > Be a teacher! Explicitly teach your kids how things work and how to do things. Do not assume your values are being passed on by example. Show and tell. They are being exposed to a hundred other different values in more subliminal, powerful ways every day. Be more powerful than that. Do your job, don’t let this world raise your babies.