Archive for Family
June 19, 2007· Filed under Family, Parenting
I am having a contest and group writing project at Weary Parent this week. You can win cash, too!! All you have to do is write a post about the best advice you ever got as a teen and took to heart. It can be funny. It can be serious. It can be a list, a story, a confession - be creative! Just keep it tasteful - Weary Parent is a family-oriented site. (I reserve the right to not post entries that are inappropriate)
Thinking back to my teen years, my parents weren’t really the advice-giving kind. Instead of advice, my parents gave me opportunities - opportunities to learn, experience, and make my own path. That was probably the best thing they could have ever done! As a result, I have never really been afraid to do things on my own. I have traveled to Europe by myself (staying with friends and relatives once I was there), bought a house when I was in my twenties, and had the courage to start my own business rather than return to work full-time when my first child was born.
When it comes to my own children, I want to give them the same opportunities, but I do have advice for them. I want them to know how important a good education is and I continue to tell them daily, that hard work leads to greater opportunities in the future.
How about you? What is the best advice you ever received? Write a post about it and come on over to Weary Parent to enter it into my group writing project and contest.
June 14, 2007· Filed under Family, Link Love, Thursday Thirteen, Working from Home
With Sunday being Father’s Day here in the US, I’d like to take some time to recognize some of my favorite Daddy blogs and bloggers who are great Dads!
- Rory at Hamelife - Rory writes about communication between parent and child and is obviously a great Dad. However, I do like his latest post on Male Pasttimes.
- Mike at Be a Good Dad - I love that he has a page dedicated to the cast of characters on his blog.
- Bad Hair Dad - I just love the picture on the About page - you get my vote as a great Dad just for that!
- Inside Fatherhood and Silly Dad - Steve is a stay at home Dad of 5 kids. You are amazing.
- The BlogFathers - this a group blog for a bunch of really cool Daddies
- ZeroBoss - A little bit edgier, I just like his hold no punches style!
- Easton of Business Blog Wire - while this is not a Daddy blog, I happen to know Easton is a WAHD and a good one at that!
- Ingo at Stixster -you get my vote for many reasons, but this picture is my favorite!
- Dawud at dmiracle - Dawud is a WAHD, too and has such a wonderful attitude and outlook on parenting.
- Adam at MonkatWork - Ommmm… (sorry Adam, I couldn’t help myself) I love your post on the benefits of working from home.
- Tony from Success from the Nest - who can resist these drawings and all of your very sensible advice
- Steve at Cymru66 - You must be a good Dad if you answered my call for Father’s Day ideas
- Steve of Babblz - afterall, he created a site for all the parents of the blogosphere - a site where we can submit posts and vote on them in true Digg style.
And, of course, my husband would be on this list, but he doesn’t blog (yet - wait until he retires). Thanks for all the great things you do for us as Moms and kids all year long!
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June 10, 2007· Filed under Blogging, Family
Friday was the first day of summer vacation for my kids so I let them sleep in, slack off, play with friends, and have their first sleepovers of summer. Starting tomorrow, the freeloading is over! While I don’t expect my kids to work the day away, they are all certainly old enough to help out and they need to learn these things anyhow.
I have created a fun chart in Microsoft Publisher that I will update weekly. The chart has each child’s picture, a rotating job of the week (one that has to be done daily), and one major chore each week day - with one “free” day each week. The rule will be that before friends can come over or we leave for an outing, these things must be done. None of the chores should take more than 10 minutes anyhow. UPDATE: This summer chore chart has been revised using MS Word - get the new version of the summer chore chart. This would also be a fun project done on construction paper, draw lines for the grid with a ruler and let the kids cut out chore pictures from magazines.
June 5, 2007· Filed under Family, Fitness, Health, Reflections
Last week while speaking with a friend, the conversation turned to body image and weight - mine. See, back in the day, before I was married or had 3 kids, I was a pretty fit chick. As a kid I did lots of sports and as a young adult I ran 11 miles every Sunday morning, swam for an hour a few nights a week, rode my bike everywhere and ate pretty healthy. Thirteen years later, I still feel like that same person, but when I look in the mirror I see something different.
From the time I got married, I stopped putting myself and my activities first. Once I had fallen out of the exercise habit, it was one that was extremely hard to restart. There have been “spurts” throughout the years where I have tried to reestablish my habit, but somehow Motherhood has always intervened.
So, my friend has challenged me to come up with a list of 10 reasons why I must now put myself first. Since I know many of my readers are probably in a similar situation, I am sharing this list with all of you.
10. I have run out of excuses.
9. My kids are now old enough to join me on a walk - they can all ride bikes or scooters.
8. My very kind neighbor just gave us a brand new recumbent stationery bike that they salvaged from a house his wife was selling.
7. If I work out I will lose weight and inches which means a good excuse for new clothes - or I can wear some of my old favorites
6. I am ready to throw my perfectionist, all or nothing attitude out the window. Fifteen minutes is better than none - so if that is all I can do one day, then do it!
5. I sleep much better at night when I exercise
4. I will feel better about my body image
3. My heart will be very grateful
2. I have put the rest of my family’s needs first for the past 13 years - now it is my turn
1. Because if I don’t make fitness a priority, no one else will!
I know what to do, how to do it and all that good stuff - my biggest hurdle is making fitness a priority. How about you? What are your biggest obstacles to achieving your goals? Is it time to put yourself first?
June 3, 2007· Filed under Family, Reflections
On our way home from a birthday party my daughter was at, the conversation in the car turned to watermelon. I was telling my daughter that I had chopped up a whole watermelon and that we also had ice cream in the freezer. Her initial reaction was “watermelon on ice cream - eewww” and I tried to convince her of its goodness.
In trying to convince her I remember Sundays growing up. Each Sunday morning my Dad would get up and make waffles from scratch. Every Sunday. He did it so my Mom could sleep in a few extra minutes before getting up for church. Sometimes the waffles were tinted pink, blue, or green. Sometimes he mashed up bananas and sometimes they were just plain. But, we always had them. It became a tradition.
After breakfast we would go to church. In the summers after church we would have another tradition. My Mom would chop up whatever fresh fruit we had or open a jar of her homemade canned peaches and we would have fruit and ice cream for lunch. That was the entire meal. My Dad always said it was too hot for anything else, but we know now, it was just an excuse to get us all hooked on his favorite indulgence.
I have such clear memories of these traditions and love Sundays for it. As a matter of fact, I plan on making waffles for my kids this morning.
Were there any family traditions from your childhood that always bring back good memories? Have you started any with your own kids?Â
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