There is a shocking truth that your tweens & teens aren't telling you. Today, my brother is here to tell the story. My brother, Doctor Timothy Hoffman, is the principal of a wonderful high-school in our area. His wife, Jill, is also a teacher at the middle-school. They have been around ...
Parenting
Are you too busy?
Are you too busy & too stressed? You aren't alone. Last year, I had read another article titled The Disease of Being Busy by Omid Safi. I came across that article again this week and it spoke to me. To quote from this article: "I saw a dear friend a few days ago. I stopped by to ask ...
10 life lessons I want our children to learn
Every day, we get the opportunity to shape our kids, to literally change their lives. Everything that we say to them sticks with them, our words become their inner voices, our expectations become their goals. If I had to pick just 10 life lessons I want our children to learn… I would use these ...
Drowning doesn’t look like drowning
Today I am working with Nationwide on a sponsored post about their Make Safe Happen campaign to talk about water safety, which is such an important issue. My dad once told me a story about when he was little. He was at the community swimming pool with his parents. His parents were sitting by ...
Say Yes to the vacation.
Always say yes to the vacation. Time goes by too quickly and things come & go. Time together can't be found once it's gone. Days, weeks, months... when they are gone, they are gone and we can't get them back. Say yes to the vacation, to the chance to bond and create memories. I read a ...
What I want our sons to know before they are teenagers
Sponsored post by Mirum. All opinions are my own. "I'm coming..." I yell to our daughter, the youngest of our four children. She is waiting for me on the swings in our backyard. I push open the screen door on the back porch and take a step out. I look down, as I am searching for my ...
10 Damaging Parenting Habits
I am working with the Monique Burr Foundation for Children on a sponsored post to spread awareness. We all want our children to be kind, confident, cooperative and assertive. It can be hard to teach our children to handle so many different behaviors. We miss providing learning opportunities ...
Those days when we fail at motherhood
Some days are great. Everyone is ready to go ten minutes before we have to leave. Lunches are pack, dinner is in the crockpot, you have on your favorite jeans and a blouse with your adorable new shoes. You look and feel the part. Those days are great. Some days are not so great... some ...
A Mean Mother
When I was little, my parent's bedroom held a poem titled A Mean Mother, that I often read, but never truly understood, until I became a mom myself. I would walk by this poem on a daily basis and pay it no attention, until my mom gave me this poem when our first son was born. Today I happened to ...
5 Things the kids will always remember
I wanted to share these 5 things the kids will always remember with you today. Those things that they will look back on and remember that lesson that they learned from you, without even knowing it. So many times, we, as parents, put our time and effort into teaching kids to follow the rules, ...
Stop yelling — to get your kids to listen
Did you know that you can stop yelling to get your kids to listen? They will even start telling you more and really talking to you (this is what happened to us the other day). When I was a teacher, I never yelled at my students (I wouldn't have dreamt of it, honestly!). Why? ...
The Hidden Fear Among Parents
I am working with the Monique Burr Foundation for Children on a sponsored post to spread awareness. There is a fear among parents that we all have, but we don’t always talk about. There is a fear among parents that we think about, but don’t always know what to do. A few years ago, my ...
Don’t be SuperMom anymore
Disclaimer: This post was sponsored by Teladoc as part of the Mom It Forward Influencer Network. However, all thoughts and opinions are my own. Supermom, superwoman, doer of all things … whatever you call it, my friend was tired of it. All of it. A friend of mine was this way: busy, working ...
10 ways to teach your young kids about kindness
It is SO important to teach your young kids about kindness… on a daily basis! Over anything else, I want our kids to be kind… kind to others and kind to themselves. 1. Be an example. You must be an example of kindness if you want your kids to be kind to others. My parents were always ...
Your kids won’t remember their best day of television
Your kids won't remember their best day of television. What will they remember? Time with you. What will they remember? How you laughed at their jokes and then made a joke back. What will they remember? How they felt when they spent time with you. Last week we celebrated our second son's ...
Kids Arguing? This NO TECHNOLOGY WEEK will change that (really! Give it a try!)
It is almost time for another NO TECHNOLOGY WEEK - here is a quick look at why we do it, how it changes our kids & helps them to GET ALONG and stop sibling rivalry! Technology- its great, right? I use it for work. My kids use it to learn. Yep- its awesome, until its not. They are using ...
What we need to know…
I recently heard something that I had to share: "Every day when we wake up, we can focus on whatever we chose: If we have a problem, we focus on that problem. If we have somewhere to be, we focus on that place. However, if you choose to focus on YOU, it makes all the ...
Should I redshirt my Kindergartener?
If you are asking yourself "Should I wait another year to send my child to Kindergarten?", you have come to the right place (I hope!). I have had to make this decision about waiting to send our child to Kindergarten with all of our children... and I've always had the same ...
Why having more kids is less stressful!
This post was originally written in 2014, but I wanted to bring it back around today & add some new details because I think that it still holds true. Why are moms of more kids often less stressed? I think we've figured it out. It boils down to a few things that help you to be a ...
The scary truth about what’s hurting our kids
In the past week, I've read several studies that are scary to me... it's the scary truth about what's hurting our kids. We all know that what our kids hear becomes their inner voice, but it's hard to control what they hear from others, isn't it? CNN recently interviewed Dr. Jean Twenge, ...