Shared Leadership In My Home

I come from a wonderful family of seven. I have one brother, three sisters, and two fabulous parents. My parents were a wonderful example of shared leadership. They never made a decision without discussing it first. They disciplined together, made rules together, planned family outings and meetings together, and supported everything each child did. I learned early in my childhood that if I wanted to ask for something important, I might as well not even try until dad got home from work. If I did, my mom would simply say, "I will have to talk to your dad about it" or "we need to ask your dad before we decide."
During my senior year in high school my parents called family counsel. At the counsel our parents informed us that they were considering moving to Utah. They told us that we would not leave until the end of the school year if we moved, but that we would leave during the summer. To be honest, I was heart broken. I had lived in Weiser Idaho my entire life and, even though I would head to college before the move, I wanted my home to still be in Idaho. My parents then informed us that they weren't going to make any decisions until each one of us prayed about the move and received an answer. One week later we met again and discussed what had happened during the week. Each of us were praying about the decision but there were still some mixed feelings about whether it was the right thing to do. We took another week to ponder and pray about the decision and by the next week we all felt like it was the right thing to do, despite how hard it would be to leave home. This was an amazing learning experience for me. Not just about praying and receiving answers, but about the importance of shared leadership in the home. My parents obviously made the final decision together, but allowing us to contribute made me feel important and cared for.