For Mothers of Infants

Thank you Lord,
For my baby’s sweet smile,
It fills my heart with joy.

Thank you Lord,
For her tiny fingers,
They warm my heart with love.

Thank you Lord,
For my babies cries,
That I might fill their every need.

Thank you Lord,
For being with me,
All night, as well as through the day.

For helping me,
To be the mom,
You both have faith in me to be.

.Amen
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For Mothers of Toddlers

Help me Lord to lend a hand,
That guides my baby’s way.
That each new word and each new step,
Will enrich my baby’s day.

Help me Lord to teach my son,
Right from wrong your way.
With a loving voice and gentle hand,
That will encourage his every day.

Help me Lord to share your name,
With him every night and day.
So he will know your love from the start,
And grow closer to you every day.

Amen

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We are all busy, but parents with children that are in extracurricular activities may be even busier than the people that don’t have that. We seem to be running all the time. If we’re not running one child to an event we’re running the other one.

My boys are very busy with sports and school functions. We barely have time to eat together as a family. So we must plan carefully so the family meals are able to happen. There are several ways to make this work, but you must have the right supplies and you must be willing to work to make it happen.

My two parenting tips for this work center around family meals.

1. Preparing your meals in advance

There are two ways to make this step happen. One thing you can do is plan your meals for the week. Sit down and decide what you’re going to have and then prepare a grocery list that contains everything you’ll need to make those meals. When you have everything you need you won’t have to make trips to the grocery store and you won’t have to order out.

The other option is to use freezer cooking. Freezer cooking gives you the ability to make meals quickly and easily. You take the time each weekend or one day a week and you cook everything you’ll need for your meals. Once that’s done everything goes in the freezer. Each day you pull the meals and you’re ready to eat in a short about of time.

2. Crockpot Meals

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Growing up, my mom was one of my best friends. The best part about this was she was the only person I knew, the only friend I had that I knew I could count on, that I knew when I told her something in secret it wouldn’t go any further. My secrets were always safe with her.

Do you have an open door policy? Are you ears open to your daughter, to her thoughts, feelings, worries and cares that she needs to share with someone? Then, when she shares are your lips sealed? Where she knows she can trust you with her fears?

Knowing I could trust someone with my secrets and fears was comforting. It is important that we provide a comfortable place for our daughters, a safe place to come to, which will strengthen your relationship and provide a special bond for you that can last a lifetime.

Giving her this safety net with help her in other ares of her life as well, boosting her confidence, self-esteem and arming her with the tools she needs to face the world, because she knows you’ve got her back. This does not mean she will never disappoint you, that’s why it’s important to keep the same policy even when the news she shares isn’t exactly what you as a mom want to hear. That is when it is even more important that you are there for her to listen when she shares.

We must remember how it felt to be a young person, the roller coaster ride that life can be and then provide a place for our daughters that is a little less scary and more secure. Otherwise she will find someone to talk to, and unfortunately that person may not be a person that she can trust nor one that you would want her to go to to obtain the advice and guidance that she is so desperately seeking.

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Today is Tuesday and it’s going to be a wonderful day. It’s Valentine’s Day and I’m so glad I’m with Kevin. He’s the best man in the world. He’s helpful, willing to do anything, and he’s always there for me no matter what’s going on. He understands why I do what I do and he helps me when he can and when I need him.

When you find the best person in the world, you know how I feel and what’s going through my mind and in my heart. He’s the best dad in the world and I’m so glad he’s a dad to our boys because I know there isn’t anyone else in the world that would be willing to do what he does to help our boys and he gives everything to them.

Today is Valentine’s Day and while we will be attending Josh’s basketball game, it won’t be a romantic dinner or a night out, we’ll be doing something together, something we love doing, and we’ll be together which is the most important thing to us.

So today I want to say Happy Valentine’s Day Kevey. I love you with all my heart sweetie. I hope you have a great day and I’ll see you at the game this afternoon.

Parenting can be very rewarding, but at times the things our children do can scare us. One of the scariest things a small child could do would have to be to get lost. They can be in a store with you looking at something and before you know it they’ve wondered off and are no longer in the same area as you. Another thing they can do is think they know how to get home by themselves only to find out it’s not possible and they’ve gotten themselves into a neighborhood that’s not familiar.

This can happen in any community and at any time and it can scare not only the child, but the parents as well. Training your children to know what to do in any situation like this is a good thing to do, but it’s not always done and the main reason is because some parents are blind to these situations or we just think it will never happen to you. If you think this way you’ll regret it sooner or later if it were to happen to you.

While it’s scary to think it could happen to you, it’s very important to make sure you’re children are safe and educated. Here are a few tips to help you to protect your children.

1. If you go to the store with your children regularly it’s important to talk to them about what to do if they get separated from you. Teach them who to talk to and who not to talk to so you know they’re safe. If you visit a store regularly you could set a place to meet if you get separated from each other.

2. If your children must walk home from school or a bus stop you need to make sure they can get home if they have to do it on their own. Walk with them from school to home and home to school and when they feel they can do it alone let them make the walk alone, but follow behind them.

3. Preparing your children is a must no matter what. One of the best things to do is prepare their backpack with their name and phone number or address. This will help either the police or an innocent bystander that’s there to help your child. Another thing that’s important to do is make sure you teach your children their phone number and address so they can share this information with the person that finds them.

When you make sure your children are informed and show them what to do in any situation you’ll feel better about letting them do things on their own. You’ll feel like they’ll be safe if they get lost. When you use these steps, your children will be safer.

Corrie Petersen runs a successful Virtual Assistant business and she’s the owner of WAHM-Articles.com. She is married and has two teenagers. She loves spending time with her family. Catch up with everything she has going on when you read her mommy blog.

I didn’t own a cell phone until I was eighteen years of age, and even then my parents had me on a very limited plan. I had thirty minutes a month on my plan. Yes, you read that right, a month. The plan was to use my cell phone to call them when I arrived at college each week. It was only for safety and emergency purposes. You can probably guess I went over my minutes quite frequently. There was no such thing at that point as text messaging though so I didn’t have that to help me run up my bill.

Besides running up my bill, there was not much that I could do on the cell phone. It had no camera capabilities nor did it have the Internet. It was ancient compared to the cell phones of today. Today children as young as preschool are carrying cell phones, and not just any cell phone but smart phones, with not only cameras, but text messaging capabilities and an Internet connection.

Why is this scary to me? It is scary because of the power that they hold in their hands. Cell phones keep no secrets, the connections that can be made and the harm that can be done from them is mind blowing. Cell phones can now take pictures of just about anything and the pictures can be sent instantly to others. Kids are taking pictures of private areas of their bodies and multimedia messaging the pictures to each other. It doesn’t stop there, the kids that receive the photo message are then forwarding the photo on to other kids, or worse uploading the photos to the Internet. Literally in minutes your kids private picture could be spread around the world.

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Parenting is a hard job, but it’s even harder during the Christmas season. It’s hard to tell your children no at any time, but it’s even more difficult when you have to tell them no because someone is getting them what they want to buy. Discipline is also difficult during this time of year because children are excited about the holiday and everything that comes with it.

1. Saying NO

Saying no is hard to do any time, but it’s even harder when the Christmas holiday season is involved. Children want things no matter what time of year it is and to say no is the worst thing in their eyes. You can explain to them that Christmas is around the corner and people need gift ideas, but they probably won’t understand that. They might even tell you they’ll be able to come up with more gift ideas, so it would be ok to buy it for them.

There are a few things you can do to avoid the need to say no. One of the easiest ways is to not take them anywhere they could find things they want to buy. Course that’s not possible, so you’ll want to continue to remind them to not ask about buying things. Another thing to do is remind them before you go to the store and then praise them when you come out of the store and they didn’t ask. One last suggestion is to remind them before you go into the store and tell them if they don’t ask, you’ll buy them a candy bar or a bottle of pop.

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Being a parent is so hard to do. Wondering if you’re making the right choices for your children is something we all worry about, but it is what it is and we can’t worry forever.

I have run into a difficult choice to make recently. I hate it when that happens, but I’m sure as my boys get older, those choices will become more difficult and will probably come more frequently.
The difficult choice I have to make comes with my oldest son this time. He recently got a job washing dishes at a local restaurant. Now we’ve put restrictions on the hours he can work and then due to his age, the state has also put restrictions on him.

The problem occurred when the new schedule came out and he was scheduled to work from 11 am to 5 pm on Sunday and 7 am to 2 pm the following Sunday. Our son specifically told them he wanted Wednesday night and Sunday morning off for church. So far Wednesday’s haven’t been a problem, but Sunday has been.

We have told our son to communicate with the manager to make sure they know how we feel about him working on Sunday’s. He explained to them we have church and he can work after 1 pm. They told him he would have to work these two shifts, but it wouldn’t happen again. We told him that would be fine.

The difficult decision may come when the next schedule comes out. If he’s scheduled on Wednesday night or Sunday morning do we let him try to handle it, but insist they change the schedule or do we call and complain and require the change?

I’ve been told we have the right to call, but I’m sure our son will have a problem with that and will assure us he’ll take care of it. Allowing your 15 year old to try and handle the problem is difficult, but I need to remember I can’t baby him forever. He needs to be able to learn how to make decisions and handle things on his own, but it’s sure is hard to do.

I’m learning as he gets older that certain things I used to do when he was a child are things I can’t do anymore. He’s old enough to do things on his own, no matter how difficult it is. He’s not a baby or a child anymore, but it’s so hard to do.

I guess I’ll cross this bridge when it comes, but it will be hard to do. I know God will guide us through this situation and by making sure our son is in church will help the situation. In the mean time, I’ll continue to pray for the knowledge and encouragement from God to make the right decisions.

School is very important because it’s how your children learn and develop knowledge. Encouragement from you is also important because some children may not realize the importance of school and what it can do for them in the future.

If your child is struggling in school, you need to communicate with the teacher and keep on top of it. The older your child gets the easier it will be for them to get so far behind that it won’t be possible for them to catch back up and the unfortunate thing is it can happen very quickly.

This holds true for high school children. The teachers usually go fast and they don’t stop and reteach something if one or two children don’t get it. If things are related it’s possible they will continue to be behind because of the lack of understanding from before. That means they will continue to struggle and at some point the teacher may say it would be better to drop the class.

You don’t want that to happen, so your best bet is to communicate with the teacher ahead of time. Most high schools offer tutoring or before or after school help from the teacher. While your child may not want to go, it’s important they do so they don’t have to retake the class again.

This is why it’s crucial that you continually monitor your child’s grades and encourage them to get help when they don’t understand. Continually remind them of the consequences, but don’t make them feel it will happen to them. Gently remind them of what the outcome will be and encourage them to get help early.

Corrie Petersen runs a successful Virtual Assistant business and she’s the owner of WAHM-Articles.com. She is married and has two teenagers. She loves spending time with her family. Catch up with everything she has going on when you click here to read her mommy blog.

Teenagers have a lot of hormones running ramped in their bodies. At times they can handle them on their own, but more times than not, they don’t know how and they take it out on others or they make poor choices. Sometimes the actions are ok, but other times they aren’t, so it’s important you help them through it.

Regularly talk to your teenager about things going on in your community and in the world. While it’s almost impossible to talk about everything, you can do a lot when you talk to them and share with them how you would handle the situation if they had done what this person did.

Helping your child through this difficult time is not easy, but it needs to be done or you’ll find your child will be depressed or worse, they’ll do something they will regret for the rest of their lives. You don’t want that to happen, so it’s best to help them through it. Here are a few tips to help make that happen.

One the best ways to help your teenager overcome the difficult times they go through with their hormones is to communicate with them. Make sure you tell them you are always there for them no matter what happens. You need to show them you want them to feel comfortable talking to you about anything and everything. When you get them to this point they’ll know you care.

While discipline is difficult to do with your teenager, it’s something you must do. It’s another one of those things that’ll show them you care. They may be really upset when you first do it, but they will remember it when they go to do it again. The actions they do now will effect them later in life so it’s important to discipline them when they do something wrong. When they know you’re series about it they won’t do it again. After a time or two of being punished for something you told them not to do they’ll see you’re doing it because you love them.

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