Image Credit: © Natesh Ramasamy | Why Am I in Such a Bad Mood? (text added) | CC by 2.0 I'm so very excited to introduce you to our newest contributor, Jessica, today. She is the mother of four (yes, four!) little ones and when I read this piece she wrote about her latest pregnancy, I just couldn't help but beg her to come write for us. Jessica will be stopping by every few weeks to share the good/bad/ugly/funny/painful/surprising/amazing/akward parts of parenthood with her own unique voice … [Read more...]
Parenting: A “5 Rings To Stop Yelling Update”
Ok guys, it's been about a week now since my 5 rings arrived (check out these metal options and colorful silicon rings if you'd like to build a set of your own) - time for an update. (Before getting to that, if you'd like some background on this challenge go here for why we're doing this.) First, and probably most importantly, I'm still at it! One of the scariest things about committing (quite publicly) to doing something outside of your comfort zone is wondering if you can actually follow … [Read more...]
The One Question that Has Made Me a Better Mother
Happy Friday friends! I wanted to pop in quickly and share with you a post I wrote this week for eHow's Mom Channel. It's a personal one for me and I really hope you like it - here's a preview: ...The perfectionist in me wants to slow down and make sure I do this parenting thing exactly right. But the kids, and their incessant growing, seem to have other ideas. In fact, I had the bone-chilling realization the other day that we’re already one-third of the way done raising our … [Read more...]
5 Tricks for Calming Back-to-School Jitters
We've got a whole "Back-to-School " theme going on here this week. Last week it was 6 Things Your Child's Teacher Wants You to Tell Them and on Monday I finally released our new Kids' Responsibility & Money Management Kit! (I'm SUPER excited about this. It's going to be just the thing to help get your kids organized and ready to take on the school year, as well as some new responsibilities.) Today, I'm over at eHow Mom discussing 5 easy tricks we use to calm back-to-school jitters. These … [Read more...]
My Summer Mantra
Before critiquing, correcting, or criticizing I will ask myself, "Is this really an issue or is it just annoying me?" (Endless potty jokes - I'm looking at you.) I will remember when they're cackling like deranged maniacs instead of eating their lunch (despite being asked to sit still and chew no less than 37 times) that one of my biggest dreams in life was a house full of giggling, joyful, healthy kids. When they ask to do something that is messy, time-consuming, … [Read more...]
Happy Family Habit #11: “Time-Ins” for the Whole Family
Image Credit: © Alexandre Normand | 06.09.13 & 04.30.12 | CC by 2.0 I'm so honored to have my friend Zina from Let's Lasso the Moon participating in our Happy Family Habits series. I relate so much to Zina's parenting philosophy and just adore her blog. Today she's sharing TONS of great tips and resources for stopping melt-downs in both ourselves and our kids before they even start. Above all else, this post just made me feel incredibly hopeful about what I could achieve with this … [Read more...]
Getting Kids to Listen While Staying Calm
I’ve got some very good news to share today. Parenting guru, Today Show expert, and MPMK favorite Amy McCready is once again offering up UPDATE: New Date A FREE Positive Parenting Webinar to MPMK readers next Monday, September 29th at both 10am PST/1pm EST and 6pm PST/9 pm EST. I’m such a fan of Amy that I try to host these free training sessions about every 3 months. But with the baby prep, I haven’t hosted one since … [Read more...]