Responsibilities Archives - The Mom Initiative

Don’t Be Held Captive by HOMEWORK!

It’s coming. The feeling of being held captive by… It’s coming. The feeling of being held captive by… @themominitiativ @loriwildenberg Click To Tweet Your Child’s Homework! AHHHH– I’ve sat there in the cell alongside you. Chained to my kid, his paper, and his book. So before your jail sentence begins, make an escape plan. No matter if the child is a high achiever or a struggling student, his homework often becomes mom or dad’s. Parents can get emotionally attached to their kid’s school work. We want our kids to succeed but…#Backtoschool #RaisingKids Click To Tweet Most of us would say we …

Is Your Child on Something?

She looks different to you. Her eyes are glassy. Or is that a twinkle? Giggling, she can’t keep quiet. Gushing all of the great things about him, all conversations now lead to this one subject. If she were back in her light up shoes, the strobe light would be blinding as she twitters around the room. It’s like she’s on something. And she is. It’s infatuation. Although it’s not deadly or illegal, it does give this mama heart cause for concern. It’s a drug that can blind our kids, causing them to miss what is glaring to everyone but them. …

Why It’s Okay to Fail

School is about to be back in session for us. I love getting back to routines and its happy effect on my family. We all really operate well with routines. It gives us a pattern every day–a constancy in our weeks. Summer is fun and free and loose. And we need that for our souls for sure–space to dream and read and be. But back to routine is really where we shine, as a family. Every year, and you may ask my kids, I set forth some goals for the new year. One of those goals is to make breakfast every …

Caring for Your Own Mom

Have you ever wondered what it might be like when your role as a daughter gets reversed and you become the parent to your mother? I didn’t give it much thought until I was suddenly faced with an ailing mother who needed full-time care. Most of my friends and family assumed that she would move into a nursing home facility. But, I knew God had quite a different plan for our family. Ever wondered what it might be like when your role as a daughter gets reversed & you become the parent to your mother? Click To Tweet I felt the constant …

how results-driven moms can celebrate progress

I’m the kind of girl that reads the ending of the book first. I love checking things off my to do list. I’m somehow annoyed by the process … I just want to get to the result. Closure and completion means that I’ve been efficient and productive. As a recovering people pleaser and perfectionist, that feels good to my “I have to perform” tendencies. Particularly since I’ve become a mother, those “completion” moments have been in short supply. Being a mom means many unending tasks: disciplining children, helping with schoolwork, cleaning the house, giving instructions… The list itself is endless. This used to …

Four Habits to Teach Kids Good Stewardship

My kids own enough toys to fill a Target 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 …

Tips for Mothers of Tweens

“I’m not little any more mom!” Her statement stung, because though my eyes see a ten-year-old my heart sees that tiny baby I brought home from the hospital. There is something different about the tween years that can make mothering particularly challenging. Raising TWEENS? Here’s 11 THINGS that will help! #tweens @themominitiativ Click To Tweet Tweens are beginning to develop true opinions about everything and are able to articulate the reasons behind these opinions. This is great because now you can have intelligent conversations. It also means your tween will question your decisions, will push against boundaries, and may have valid …

A Cleaning Plan for the Cleaning Inept

I am not so great at keeping my house clean or organized. I want to have a clean and organized house, but things get in the way – things like children, my husband, our dogs, homeschool, and my classes. I am told that creative folks struggle with organization. That sounds like a good excuse too. I have even been known to blame my twin. She is more organized than two people need to be, and so I think she stole my organizing gene in the womb. Honestly, cleaning and organizing can feel overwhelming! I feel like I will never get …

Brave Moms Raise Wildly Brave Kids

It’s no secret my siblings and I were raised by wolves. Being the product of a desert-raised dweller growing up in the 80’s, my mom’s philosophy to mothering was this, “Outside!” My five siblings and I spent hours on end out of eyesight, playing in the gullies and washes of our Arizona home. We only came home at dusk or to be fed or when someone needed stitches; and we didn’t return to the house until our wildly concocted stories matched of why Child A hit her head on a pipe. Besides, mom didn’t really need to know the reason why …

3 Things a Mom Must Do to Find Balance

We all know pictures can tell a thousand words, but this one just jumped off the page as if to say, “This is your life.” Here in my hometown the circus comes around every January and puts on the greatest show on earth. Everything from contortionists to clowns to wild animal acts to magic shows. But the ones that capture my attention more than anything else are those that require balance. The trapeze, high wire, plate spinning and juggling acts were mesmerizing. How could they possibly sit on a chair perched on a rope while balancing a canoe on their …

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