I didn’t always get it right. The mom thing, that is. In fact much of my mentoring comes from times when I’ve blown it and the lessons I learned from the mistakes I’ve made along the way. I remember when my oldest son came home with a bad grade on his report card. It was an opportunity to help him see that failure is never final. I could have spoken life into his crushed self-image and taught him that failure does not define him. The grade was just an indication that he needed a little help, not an indictment on …
Home – Where Laughter Fills the Air
Have you ever caught yourself telling you children to stop laughing? I remember when my boys were younger that the noise level of the laughter in our home seemed to exceed the sound barrier. Occasionally, I would have had my hormonal noise level limit and I’d “Shhhhhh” the laughter right out of them. As I look back from an empty nest I can’t help but think I would love to hear those little laughs echoing through my halls once again. Proverbs 17:22 tells us that a cheerful or joyful heart does good like medicine. Laughter is good for the heart, …
Just Do It!
By Guest: Lori Wildenberg Before kids – did you have a temper? I honestly didn’t think I had much of one. But…God has humbled me with my four blessings. Once I “acquired” children my false reality was shattered. I’ll admit it- I’m the not so proud owner of a temper. Parenting is the best-hardest job, filled with intense emotions. Because we are so passionate about and invested in our kids, we get annoyed and angry when they don’t do what we say. Cooperation is so much nicer than conflict. How come kids don’t get that? Most parents are exasperated and …
4 Solid Tips For Your Summer Road Trips
I couldn’t wait as a teen for summer to be here. Oh the freedom, the road trips, the memories. Flash forward to present day, I still love spur of the moment road trips but cringe slightly at the thought of being locked in my suburban with my three kids. If you dread it too, and are looking for ways to maximize peace and fun; and minimize the potential of world war III–I’m your girl. We have family in four different states and I speak often, in which case my family sometimes travels along. Your Summer Road Trippin’ Fun Tips Photo …
Mommy Guilt
I am not the perfect mom. I love my husband and my kids, but I mess-up–often. Some days I make lots of mistakes–other days I do better. However I will never be perfect–not this side of heaven. Sometimes I pick-up every mistake I make, but my burden is heavy. It whispers to my heart. You will never do this right. You are messing up your children. You are a bad mother. You will never be enough. My heart convulses as I lose myself in the lies my burden feeds me. I lose my joy in fear. My strength evaporates in …
How Parents Support (and Sabotage) Student Success (Part I)
As parents, we want to help our children succeed in school. In my twenty-two years as a classroom teacher (twenty-one as a parent), I’ve seen parent strategies that pay big dividends. I’ve also seen well-intentioned efforts that actually cost the kids. Today, I’m going to start a series in which we explore one support strategy and one form of sabotage. Support 1: Help your child learn their multiplication tables. Through the 20s. As soon as possible. I’m not suggesting “super baby” tactics. But do take advantage of edutainment software programs that will drill your child over and over again. Make …
10 Ways to Win the Whining War
It has a way of grating on your nerves. Whining can drive a momma up the proverbial wall. How do you stop a two year old from whining when it’s time for bed, when you take her favorite toy away or when she doesn’t get her way? What do you do when your 5 year old whines about what you feed him for lunch, when you make him play outside or when you make him take a nap? Somehow, whining is a universal language for children between 1 and 18… and if it’s not dealt with before they become adults, …
The Irony of the Empty Nest
How painfully hard it is to watch as the momma bird nudge her little babies out of the nest. They desperately try to cling to the wiry branches that had once been meticulously placed there by their parents. It was their home… all they ever knew. They were carefully cared for while they nestled in the twig-lined tree house yet a whole wide world awaited them beyond their little bungalow suspended between two limbs. But it’s time for her babies to soar. It was what they were created for. It’s ironic, you know? You raise them up to let them go. I know …
The Happiest She’s Been in 45 Years
a poem about mothers, daughters, and Alzheimer’s Disease (to view as a video, click here.) She was happy once upon a time long long ago. Then, all changed. She birthed a baby girl. She moved 3,000 miles to an unknown land: California, where women wore white after Labor Day. And she tried. Oh, how hard she tried to make everything just right so I could be happy. I didn’t care about leveling off the measuring cup with the back of the knife whether the salad fork went on the left or the right if dinner was served precisely at 6:00 …
The 4-1-1 On Motherhood
Let’s face it, when it comes to motherhood, we’re clueless–but we THINK we know everything. The moment that stick turns up two lines to show a positive, we suddenly are knowledgeable about being pregnant, giving birth, and caring for an infant. Most of us inhale books, some sit back, relax and say, “Let the good times roll,” while others are on their knees praying for divine intuition about motherhood. But in most of these versions of mom’s I’ve seen, we act as if we know it all. If you ask me, giving birth (my youngest was over 10 pounds, so …