Today’s Great Giveaways! 3 CD Set, Let’s Get PURSE-onal!, Personality Puzzle for Parents of Preschoolers, and Raising a Reader By: Cheri Gregory In these 3 power-packed CDs, Cheri not only helps moms be better moms by understanding themselves but she also shares the primary goal and two major needs of each Personality type so moms can understand and relate to their children better. She also presents 2 parenting DOs and 2 parenting DON’Ts for each one personality type. And in Raising a Reader, Cheri helps moms develop a love for reading in their children. Just Enough Light for the Step I’m …
eBabies + iTeens + YouToo: Questions About Kids and Technology
I first heard the term “Generation M” while reading the 2006 Time magazine article “The Multitasking Generation.” The explosion in technology, I soon discovered, brought with it dozens–even hundreds!–of new questions I needed to be asking as a parent. It’s easy to mistake kids’ technological sophistication for maturity. Parents and teachers often back way off because they feel like kids are so far ahead of them. But kids have no idea the kind of firepower they’re playing around with. Adult guidance and wisdom are not obsolete. Kids need us now more than ever. As part of an ongoing series called “eBabies …
Making “Taking Care of Mom” a Top Priority
If we were sitting at my kitchen table enjoying cups of tea together, while passing fresh banana bread I’d say, “Repeat after me: I am the only mother my child has!” You’d probably look at me like I’m nuts and quickly set down your tea, wondering if you should even take a bite of my banana bread–who knows what I put in it? Normally, I try not to be overly pushy. I like to listen and ask questions. But not today. Today, I’d turn bossy. Here’s why: I have a naturally chaotic personality. We’ve paid vast late fees because “staying …
What My Heart Tells Me (and Those I Love) – Part 2
Two weeks ago, I shared about how the words I say aloud and the thoughts I think have been changing. Drastically. Today, as promised, I’ll be describing some of the practical, intentional choices I’ve been making to “change my mind” as God exchanges my heart. Replacing “Baditude” Although I wish I didn’t have such a fresh example, let’s look at an incident from this morning. I’m taking an online class, and I was trying to quickly post an assignment. But every time I hit “save,” the hyperlinks wouldn’t work and extra characters showed up. I stayed calm and …
What My Heart Tells Me (and Those I Love)
For the last 60 days, I’ve been watching my words. They’ve told a lot about the condition of my heart. During May’s The PURSE-onality Challenge (and now June’s TPC “lite”), I’ve blogged almost daily about my journey of “replacing ‘baditude’ with God’s word and gratitude.” Using my Complaint-Free bracelet, I’ve been intentional about curbing complaining, criticism, gossip, and even sarcasm. My goal has been to become aware of my “baditude” habits so I can surrender them to God and replace them with scripture and praise. A Change of Heart During the last few weeks, despite typical end-of-the-school-year chaos, I’ve …
How Parents Support (and Sabotage) Student Success (Part III)
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 is Part 3 of a series in which we explore one support strategy and one form of sabotage. (Here are links to Part 1 and Part 2.) Support #3: Help Your Child Develop Organizational and Planning Systems One day, I came home from 4th grade in tears. I’d been assigned a “research report” on the Yokut Indians, and …
How Parents Support (and Sabotage) Student Success (Part II)
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 is Part 2 of a series in which we explore one support strategy and one form of sabotage. (You can find Part 1 here.) Support 2: Expand your child’s listening vocabulary. A child who starts school with an enriched listening vocabulary has a huge advantage over a child who does not. Sure, when they’re both learning basic …
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 …
Complaint-Free: Who Me?
Complaint-Free: Who Me? As I thumbed through a copy of A Complaint-Free World five years ago, I considered myself the most optimistic, positive, encouraging (and obviously humble) person I knew. In fact, I joked to my husband that we needed to buy two (maybe three) dozen copies to give the long list of negative people in my life who drag me down with their never-ending complaints, criticism, and gossip. Than I read a little farther. And the author had the nerve to suggest that of all the negative people in my life, I might be the worst of the worst! That. …
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 …