Keeping it Real
Web 2012
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05/20/1230 Day Mom Challenge Day 26 – Make it a point to encourage your child today.Encouragement. It’s more than just something we do when our kids are trying something new. Posted at 11:21 PM | Permalink | Comments: 2 |
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05/13/1230 Day Mom Challenge Day 24 & 25My kids are verbal ramblers. They never met a story that didn’t need to take multiple tries and embellishments. They like to talk and their favorite after-school activity is to take turns in the “mama!?” game, asking me questions with machine-gun-like rapid fire speed. |
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05/06/1230 Day Mom Challenge Day 23: Replace sarcasm with kindness.In our house, sarcasm is part of the landscape. It’s how we communicate with one another; it’s how we encourage each other, how we offer comfort. My kids hear plenty of messages delivered with kindness, but sometimes sarcasm is the easiest way for us to communicate. |
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04/29/1230 Day Mom Challenge Day 22: How do you want your child to remember you? Be that mom todayEach day I think about the job I did that day with my kids. I think that’s part of my generation; we’re a generation of thinkers and over-analyzers. But I want my children to be self-aware, not self-absorbed; generous with their time and affection and stingy with their judgments and cross words. And there’s only one way to do that. |
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04/15/1230 Day Mom Challenge Day 21: Forgive Yourself When You Mess UpI remind my kids that we learn lessons when we make mistakes, our character is built in those moments when we face difficult decisions, such as making the choice between anger and forgiveness. |
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04/08/1230 Day Mom Challenge Day 20: Focus on PatienceI’ve been known to jokingly say: “patience is a virtue; and I’m not known for my virtues.” I laugh, but it’s true. Patience is not really my thing. But it is something that I’m learning to manage. |
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03/25/1230 Day Mom Challenge Day 19: Teach your child one thing he can do on his own today.Unfortunately, I’m one of those “oh, I’ll just do it myself” type of people. Now I’m not a martyr about it—I don’t get all passive-aggressive with the sighs and moaning about how I’m sooo terribly busy, but I still do it myself when I should let me kids take on some of the responsibility. Learning personal responsibility is a necessary part of childhood! |
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03/19/1230 Day Mom Challenge Day 18: Who is a mom you admire?Who is a mom you admire? What quality of hers can you live out, today? This is a tough one. I’m surrounded by moms, both real and imagined, and there are many qualities I admire in many of them. |
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03/11/1230 Day Mom Challenge Day 17: Laugh with your child today.Not a day goes by that we don’t laugh about something. My family is funny. We laugh a lot. We tease, we giggle, we find humor in most everyday occurrences (usually where we shouldn’t), in the music that we listen to (and then badly sing), the TV shows that we watch, the books we read. |
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03/04/1230 Day Mom Challenge Day 16I read the other day that the goal of parenting is to raise our children to be able to function without us. Aye, there’s the rub... |
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02/26/1230 Day Mom Challenge Day 15Editor Mari shares her thoughts on Day 15 of her 30 Day Mom Challenge: Be firm when needed, but not harsh. Posted at 11:39 PM | Permalink | Comments: 2 |
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02/06/1230 Day Mom Challenge Day 14To prevent myself from sinking into the pit of mommy martyrdom, today’s challenge to “remember that being a mother is a gift” is apropos. Deep down inside (some days it seems to be deeper than others), I revel in the blessing of motherhood. My kids are great people, and I’m so thankful to have the opportunity to help shape them into amazing adults. |
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01/29/1230 Day Mom Challenge Day 1330 Day Mom Challenge Day 13—Do not criticize your child today. Another tough one. Am I a criticizer? In the dictionary, it says that criticism is fault-finding, negative judgment, and it’s something that I try to avoid. |
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01/22/1230 Day Mom Challenge Day 12Every day I worry that I’ve made mistakes in parenting. But I think that the very fact that I question myself means that I’m doing a good job. Praying for wisdom in parenting sharpens my focus on my family, and raising my children is an important job that I don’t take for granted. Posted at 10:47 PM | Permalink | Comments: 1 |
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01/16/1230 Day Mom Challenge Day 11So I got hit with that horrible winter head cold that made the rounds through the holidays. You know, just in time for the kids to be off from school and my husband to be at work? During that week when we had beautiful weather and I had a list of fun activities as long as my arm that I wanted to do with the kids. I’d been looking forward to this week, some pre-paid downtime since I had done my best to get my work done ahead of time so I’d be able to have fun without worry. |
01/09/1230 Day Mom Challenge Day 10How can a person focus on joy when life is filled with responsibilities? When from one moment to the next, the day rushes past at a breakneck pace while you switch from task to task, making sure that the things that “need” to be accomplished actually get done? |
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Mari Farthing is the mother of two young children, the wife of an air force member and the editor of MetroFamily Magazine.
