Becky Kopitzke Archives - The Mom Initiative

Surviving December With Small Kids

What do you get when you mix two young children, one tired mom, and a Christmas to-do list? Definitely not peace on Earth. “Don’t step there!” My hand jerked toward my toddler’s ankles, but too late. Her foot crunched a row of Christmas ornaments arranged meticulously on the rug, prepped for hanging. “I sorry, Momma!” Her sock hovered over a sparkly blue star, crushed into five pieces. “I told you to stay on the sofa! Sweetie, if you want to help Mommy decorate the tree, you need to be very careful around the ornaments. Now it’s broken.” Her bottom lip …

How to Teach Gratitude to Our Children

Some things I vowed I’d never say to my children. Like this one. “Don’t waste those waffles, girls. Did you know there are kids starving in Africa??” “What?” My younger daughter, age four at the time, looked up at me and crinkled her nose. “In Africa. And all sort of other places around the world. Even here in our own country! Not all kids get to eat as much as you do.” “But I don’t want waffles! I wanted cereal!” My seven-year-old whined. “Too bad. Eat the waffles. Some children are lucky if they get a bowl of rice—and that’s …

How to Get More Patience (or not really)

I keep hearing about this thing called patience. But I don’t know what it is. I hear some women possess it—some freaks of human nature who never had a child stick a pretzel up her nose or unwrap a whole box of pantyliners to use for doll diapers. Apparently “patience” means you don’t shoot fire out of your eyeballs when these things happen. Ha, right? Totally must be an urban legend because I’ve never met a lady like that. So to write a devo on this patience thing, well, it’s just not in my wheelhouse. No can do. Except. I …

One Good Reason to Spoil Your Kids

“Mommy, will you tell us a story?” My younger daughter, three years old at the time, looked up at me, pleading. Her wispy hair lay fanned across a cotton pillowcase, and her eyes shone glossy in the lamplight. “A story? Sure.” It was a typical bedtime request. My girls like to hear stories from my childhood, so I spin ordinary memories into fairy tales. They think this is fabulous entertainment. “Once upon a time,” I launched into my standard opener, “there was a beautiful princess named Princess Becky. Every week, she went grocery shopping with her mom, Queen Nana. At …

If You Want to Get It Right This School Year

I forgot her water bottle. The first day of kindergarten, I had my daughter’s backpack stocked, her school supplied labeled, her lunch bag filled with her favorite food plus a special note using only words she could read—but! I forgot the bleeping water bottle. I am a terrible mother. All summer long, I thought about this day, the first experience of navigating math and music and recess without Mom, without my steady presence to help her make choices and pull her socks up and open her yogurt lid. And here is it, kindergarten. We have officially grown. My baby must …

Four Tips to Teach Kids Good Stewardship

My kids own enough toys to fill a Costco aisle. Their clothes closet…jam packed. Take a quick look around our house and you might think we’re one of those excessive American families with no sense of money’s value. But come a little closer. You’ll discover most of the clothes my children own were handed down from their cousins—or bought on super clearance because Momma loves a bargain. And those toys? Gifts, mostly, or else acquired through our semi-annual Christmas and birthday splurge. We appreciate our material things. But we know they’re not everything. I want to teach my kids to …

Tell Your Kids They’re Beautiful

My husband does this thing my girls love. When he tucks them into bed at night, or while we’re riding in the car, or at some random moment in the living room on any given day, he shouts out, “Who’s pretty and smart?” And our girls raise their hands. Sometimes they raise both hands. “Mom! You have to raise your hand, too!” They smile and squeal. “Oo, oo, I am, I am! I’m pretty and smart!” I shoot my hands in the air and giggle. My daughters know they’re beautiful, because their Daddy tells them so. But the truth is …

It’s Okay to Talk About the Kids on Date Night

Last weekend, my husband and I enjoyed a long-overdue date. We went out for pizza, ordered one dessert with two forks, then steered our minivan toward the mall to burn an hour before bedtime. The kids’ bedtime, that is. On date night, my husband and I have a strategy: stay away until the children are snoozing. This is our time. So what did we do? Shopped for the kids. I wandered through the Target aisles carrying two pairs of size 6X pants over my forearm. Halfway between cosmetics and the dollar specials I spotted a familiar face. “Hey, friend!” I …

How Does God See You?

Do you know that God thinks you’re fabulous? It’s true. If you don’t believe that, your battle against the dirty villains of motherhood is doomed from the start. Because before you can wield God’s mighty power, you must first believe that He is on your side. To ingest this truth deep in your heart, let’s look at some supporting arguments from scripture. 1. God created you, and you are His masterpiece. “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I …

For Tired Mommies Everywhere

In my house, Nurse Mom sees plenty of nighttime action. My kids wake at midnight from coughing fits and scary dreams. They tiptoe to my bedroom in pitch darkness to inform me they need to go potty. They crawl out of bed in tears because they can’t find a favorite stuffed animal tucked deep beneath the covers. They expect me to find it. They talk in their sleep. They bump their heads on the wall. They’re thirsty. So they tap my shoulder at 2:00 a.m. asking for fresh water. Sometimes they just want to know if it’s morning yet and …

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