How to be a Good Mom - Instructions

How to be a Good MomDifficulty: Challenging

Things You'll Need:
Love
Patience
Respect
Responsibility
Goals
Traditions
Influence
Kindness

Instructions:
 

1. Love your children no matter what they do. They show to others what they are given, and love is the most important gift you can give them! Hugs and kisses are mandatory. Hug them no matter how "old" they may think they are. Everyone needs hugs to survive.

2. Be patient when they spill the milk and get cookie crumbs on your brand new carpet. Count to ten and breathe. It's often hard not to yell. All mothers yell at some point and if you don't, you shouldn't be reading this! Train yourself to count. It might not save tears, but it will save pain.

3. Respect your children and they will respect you. Appreciate the things they do for you, and they will do them more often. Rewards and praises for jobs and tasks well done will teach them that working hard, being a good person, and doing it all unconditionally is key to sustaining a great life.

4. Show your children you are a responsible person by working, providing for them and caring for their needs. This will teach them to do the same for their families in the future. Building a loving home for a child is the ultimate responsibility. Cherish the moments of family and show your children how much you are willing to do for them.

5. Have goals for your children, your family and yourself. Involve your family in your goals, teach them to make goals of their own and challenge them to achieve them. For example, if they want a new toy and it's not close to Christmas or a birthday, have them do a few extra chores around the house they don't normally do to earn the toy. If your son or daughter is great at a sport or school encourage them to go the distance and beyond. Support the team, reward excellence and participate in their achievements.

6. Pass on traditions to your children. Some families have holiday traditions, others have daily traditions. Teach your children about your family history. Cook old family recipes together, try a family craft project or plan a party together. Keeping family traditions alive keeps the family close.

7. Influence your children to be the best they can be. Talk to them, learn what they want out of life and answer their questions. Children would much rather hear about life from people they love and trust than from complete strangers or friends. Your children will love and respect you more for talking with them, not to them.

8. Be kind to your children. They are born innocent. Keep them that way as long as possible. Treat your children with dignity, respect and love and they will treat you with the same!

By Jami Mack, eHow Contributor

Sticks and Stones Snack Mix

Hello, MOPS moms! Today I am sharing a quick and easy recipe for a snack mix that I “discovered” recently. This recipe is from the September 2009 issue of Family Fun magazine. This recipe is fun and easy!  Not only is it tasty, this alternative could help you avoid pre-packaged snacks, which could save you money and help the environment.  This yummy snack is pretty good, from a nutritional standpoint, too.  AND your kids can help you make it!  Here is the recipe:

Sticks and Stones

Ingredients:
4 T. butter
¼ cup frozen orange or apple juice concentrate
¼ cup brown sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
3 cups Quaker Oatmeal Squares
2 cups pretzel sticks
1 ½ c. whole almonds
1 cup raisins or dried cranberries

Heat oven to 300 degrees. Place the butter, juice concentrate, and sugar in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave on high for 45 seconds to melt the butter. Stir in the cinnamon.

Place the oatmeal squares, pretzels, and almonds in a large bowl. Pour the melted-butter mixture over it and stir to coat.

Bake, stirring every 10 minutes, until the mixture is dry to the touch, about 30 minutes. Remove pan from oven and stir in the dried fruit. Let mix cool completely before storing it in airtight container. Makes about 7 cups.

Cooking notes of interest:
"Obviously you can substitute ingredients in or out depending on your family’s preferences."
"The first time I made this all the Craisins were left in the bottom, so I omitted those in my second batch."
"When I made it I didn’t have juice concentrate and I also didn’t even have any juice in the house! I just added some water to the butter/brown sugar mixture and it worked fine."
"Other cereals could easily be substituted for the Quaker Oatmeal Squares."

Beautiful! - Inside & Out

Here is a step-to-step guide on achieving a flawless application:

Cover the entire lid with makeup primer before applying eye shadow. This will assure your colors won’t fade or crease. I always recommend applying eye shadows with professional brushes for precise application and ease of blending. Remember the smaller the brush, the more intense the color.

1. Choose a light neutral color (linen) to brush lightly and evenly from the lash line to your brow, covering the entire lid. This will be your base color.

2. Use a darker shade (sand) than your base color, and apply it to the crease line.

3. Use a shade lighter (snow/matte white) than your base color to highlight under the eyebrow.

4. Use a shade darker (chocolate) than your crease color to accent the outer corner of your eye. Take a full brush and blend all together. If the colors are too intense, fill your brush with the light neutral color you used in step one and blend all together.

5. Top off with a black eye liner or matte black shadow with a slant brush along top lash line.

Using an color on your bottom lash line is optional. If you decide not to line the bottom, then no need for mascara on bottom lashes. If you like color on your bottom lash line use a shadow – not a harsh eye liner – then apply mascara.

This is a good everyday look.

Tiffany Harger
www.tiffanyharger.myarbonne.com

Enjoy!

Mommy and Me - ABC's!

 Looking for something to do this summer...indoors?  Are your young ones learning their ABCs?  Check out this website for a terrific strategy that you can do with your kids!  It's a perfect summertime activity!

Each lesson starts with a book that you read with your child.  Then you do a fun and simple activity which goes with each book and emphasizes a letter of the alphabet. As you go through each letter, your child will assemble a keepsake letter book that they have made with you!  Each lesson is designed specifically for young children and, even better, is free! 

CLICK HERE for the link. This post will show you how to make the letter folders and to set it all up. It will also have links to all the posts written for individual letters.

A phone call....

A lot of people don't realize the work that goes into being a mother. Only a mother knows what a mother really does, and only a mother can tell the story. Here's a little tidbit that will hopefully give the rest of the world just a tiny bit of insight on just how hard us mothers actually work!

THE INTERVIEW

The phone rings...

MOTHER: Hello?

INTERVIEWER: Hello, Ma'am. I'm a reporter and we're choosing women at random to give brief accounts of their job descriptions to run in next week's issue of our career paper. Do you have a minute?

MOTHER: Not now, I'm busy!

INTERVIEWER: OK Ma'am, I won't take anymore of your time.

MOTHER: Oh, I'm sorry, I was talking to my two-year old. She's trying to get me to pour her some milk.

INTERVIEWER: Oh, I see. So you're a mother?

MOTHER: I can't just yet, I'll do it in a minute!

INTERVIEWER: Excuse me, what was that?

MOTHER: Oh, my apologies. I was talking to my 4 year old, he needs help wiping his bottom.

INTERVIEWER: Oh, well I'll be brief. First of all, do you work?

MOTHER: Of course I do.

INTERVIEWER: Great! What is your occupation?

MOTHER: I'm a mother.

INTERVIEWER: Oh. But you don't work for pay, right?

MOTHER: I have the highest paying job I know!

INTERVIEWER: But I thought you were a mother. Do you have another occupation?

MOTHER: Isn't that enough?

INTERVIEWER: I suppose. (pause) Well, I'll let you get back to your children Ma'am. I have some interviews to collect.

MOTHER: Wait! Don't you want to hear my job description?

INTERVIEWER: Uhhh.... (Thinking about a potential lawsuit if he should say no) ..... OK, go for it.

MOTHER: Could you hold on just a minute? Let me take care of my son in the bathroom. This should just take a second.

INTERVIEWER: (sighs) OK. I'll wait.

About 5 minutes pass...

MOTHER: I'm back. Whew, that one was above and beyond the call of duty!

INTERVIEWER: I think I'll leave that out of my article.

MOTHER: Good idea.

INTERVIEWER: Well let's hear the job description. (He mutters under his breath), This shouldn't take too long.

MOTHER: I hope you have lots of paper...hmmm. Well, here it goes...

I have the world's most important job. I'm a Manager of Miracles (or MOM for short). I train people for life. I teach them morals and right from wrong. I make sure that they get the proper education that will help them to one day have the ability to rule the world if necessary. I also teach them the small things that go along with good civilization such as good hygiene and manners.

The training process takes a lot of patience and requires me to hold a number of different job titles. I'll share just a few with you for time's sake.

For one thing, I'm a nurse. There are times when my little "trainees" (hereafter referred to as my children or kids), will get scraped knees and little tears will stream down little faces. It is my place to put a colorful bandage on it and kiss it. This has an amazing healing effect. Usually, the child will then wipe their eyes, smile and run back and do the same thing that made them get the scraped knee in the first place. However, there are more difficult times like when my kids have the flu. It is then my place to be on call at any given moment to come and check temperatures, administer medicine, or even hold a barf bag. If I don't get there quickly enough, it may require cleaning messes out of the carpet. I often give up my own sleep to make sure that my child is comfortable.

Also, I'm a referee. Believe it or not, there are times when my little "angels" grow horns. Fights break out between siblings and it's my place to break up the fights and restore the peace.

Sometimes as a MOM, I must be a psychologist. I have to delve into the problems of my children and find the root causes for their behavior and help them change it.

I'm a teacher 24/7. My children are constantly learning from me whether I'm trying to teach them or not. This requires me to be very careful about everything that I do and say, for they learn the bad as well as the good.

Another one of my jobs, and one that I'm really good at is that of an attorney. There are times when the judge, (dad), lays down the law. Although I agree with Judge Dad that punishment must be received for wrongdoings, I look into what caused the child to behave the way they did. I've been know to get "sentences" reduced if the child can present good reasons for why they did what they did. (Judge Dad don't seem to think that this is an attorney role, he thinks it's a soft Mommy's heart).

I'm a chauffeur, a maid, a cook, and....did you say something sir?

INTERVIEWER: ZZZZZzzzzzzzz

MOTHER: Well, I guess he got tired just listening to all I have to do. 'click'

Let's go get your milk now sweetie

New Car Seat Regulations

Click here to read The American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's new recommendations on car seat safety for toddlers.

The biggest change is that toddlers are now recommended to ride in rear-facing car seats until age two. This is a year longer than the previous one year regulation. They are also saying that children should be in a booster until age 12 in the backseat.

Click the link above to read the full article.