THE AWKWARD MOM

because uncomfortable conversations are the ones worth having

Category: Ideas (page 4 of 9)

What Makes You Happy? 15 Ideas for a More Blissful & Thankful Day (Right Now)

September 6, 2018 / / 0 Comments
Reading Time: 4 minutes

A friend told me recently of a trip he and his wife to Hawaii took several years back. After dropping his wife at the terminal for the flight home, he was the only person on the rental car shuttle. He recalled the shuttle driver’s words: “I think I need to go on vacation.” My friend laughed when he told me this. Where do you go on vacation when you live in Hawaii?

Having friends who used to live in Kauai, I know that wherever you live, life is never all bliss. In fact, one side of my house looks over a little cabin serving as a VRBO (Vacation Rental by Owner) year-round. And God seems to use it to tap me on the shoulder: Just a reminder. You live in a place where a lot of people go on vacation.  read more

Guest post: 12 Discussion Starters to Help Kids Think Personally about Poverty

August 29, 2018 / / 0 Comments
Reading Time: 2 minutes
Open House kids playing hospitality

Playing with a friend in Uganda

A couple of weeks ago my trusty Subaru was packed with a bunch of sweaty kids (mine), headed home from our organization’s picnic. The mood was light, the windows down. We played two of my admittedly weird games:

  • Where in life do you think your sibs and yourself will be in twelve years? 
  • Where around the world could you see yourself going to help people?

The first was pretty hysterical, peppered with some interjections about read more

10 Fun Ideas for Kids this Summer!

June 1, 2018 / / 0 Comments
Reading Time: 4 minutes

kids summer ideasSo my kids are home for the summer after their first year in public school. Observations:

a. I’ve been looking forward to quality time with them. That said, if they fight like, one more time? I may be glancing at tickets for four children to, say, Abu Dhabi.

b. I am still working from home. So in contrast to what I wish summer looked like for moms, it’s more to the tune of “more bricks, less straw”. read more

Raising Kids Who Love God…After They Leave Your House

May 17, 2018 / / 0 Comments
Reading Time: < 1 minute

Ever feel like you need a “cultural translator” just to get through to your kids?

Yeah. Me, too. read more

Freebie Fridays [INFOGRAPHIC]: Helping Kids Deal with Their Fears

April 6, 2018 / / 0 Comments
Reading Time: 2 minutes

We were on our way to the local aquatic center with friends in my trusty, dented little Subaru. We passed a few yard signs for our small town’s upcoming election. I was listening to my 10-year-old chat with her friends about how excited they were about summer’s approach. Of course, right? But get this. “Yeah, I can’t wait for summer, with all this election stuff and the school shootings.”

Well. Is that how you know that your daughter is growing up in a different world?

I eventually talked with her about the local election: That despite she and her siblings’ wide-eyed ingestion of the scrolling newsfeed in 2016, elections are not usually scary things in our country. (This was less so in Africa, where she grew up, so I get that, too.) read more

Freebie Fridays: Practical Tips on Humility from a Dead Bishop [INFOGRAPHIC]

March 9, 2018 / / 0 Comments
Reading Time: < 1 minute

This week, I’ve been thinking a lot about humility, as you can see in this post on staying humble when you shine.

I’ve gleaned a ton of great practical thoughts on this from Jeremy Taylor, a guy born over 400 years ago. This guy (1613-1667) was a chaplain to Charles I and a prolific, vivid author with keen insight into human behavior.

I’ve paraphrased some of his practical tips for all of us. (Believe it or not, you can read him on your Kindle for .99--but I like the abbreviated version in this devotional I love.) Check out his wisdom–and print it out if you want!
PRINT IT HERE!  read more

52 Fun, Easy Ways to Flirt with Your Spouse

February 6, 2018 / / 0 Comments
Reading Time: 2 minutes

  1. Text something sweet, sexy, thankful, or playful: Thanks for all you do to get us all out the door in the morning. You still take my breath away.
  2. Check your spouse’s calendar, and then kidnap her from work for a quick lunch or an afternoon romantic matinee.
  3. Bring his favorite coffee shop treat home.
  4. Leave a steamy voicemail.
  5. Load the dishwasher for her. (Trust me. It works.)
  6. Invite him to take a shower with you.
  7. Get a little “handsy” in the kitchen.
  8. Lay your head on his chest or tuck beneath his arm while you watch your Netflix fave.
  9. Compliment her in front of a friend.
  10. Pick up her favorite snack at the grocery store.
  11. Grab her hand while riding in the car.
  12. Encourage him about something he did well at work.
  13. Wrestle.
  14. Borrow the kids’ Nerf weapons.
  15. Encourage your kids to thank her for something she’s done for them.
  16. Write him a love note.
  17. Make her a homemade card.
  18. Give him a massage.
  19. Write her a sappy (or funny) poem.
  20. Read her a love poem. (Ideas here.)
  21. Rub her feet.
  22. Make him a compilation CD of songs that express your heart and relationship.
  23. Give her a scalp massage.
  24. Take a bath together.
  25. Buy her flowers.
  26. Kiss at every stoplight.
  27. Ask to hold her hand.
  28. Play with your kids together.
  29. Light candles.
  30. Wear perfume and pretty underthings.
  31. Speak her love language (free “cheat sheet” here).
  32. Clean up your bedroom.
  33. Take care of that one thing that’s been weighing on him.
  34. Make up a goofy song about her on the fly.
  35. Overlook something he did that was stupid.
  36. Call her to tell her something about your day.
  37. Advocate for her.
  38. Plan a date in.
  39. Remember one of your favorite lovemaking memories, and whisper it in his ear.
  40. Go on a walk.
  41. Paint her toenails.
  42. Thank him for something unexpected.
  43. Listen to her. Ask good questions. (Ideas here.)
  44. Initiate fun sex.
  45. Tell her about a memory you love from when you were dating.
  46. Pick up a bag of her favorite candy.
  47. Play a little jazz while you cook together. Grab her hand and dance for a moment.
  48. Develop a code for talking when the kids are in the room about possible lovemaking.
  49. Come to bed naked.
  50. Go stargazing.
  51. Pick up a small gift that will delight and surprise.
  52. Pray together.

Young love is a flame; very pretty, often very hot and fierce, but still only light and flickering.

The love of the older and disciplined heart is as coals, deep-burning, unquenchable. read more

Holiday Rerun: Spiritual Life Skills for Kids: 10 Practical Ways to Teach Simplicity

December 7, 2017 / / 0 Comments
Reading Time: 6 minutes

One of my favorite aspects of my African lifestyle was a lean muscularity of simplicity. Forget keeping up with the Joneses. You are the Joneses, when your kids are going to play with kids whose families (who may or may not be literate or have lost a child) live in one room, which may or may not have electricity and running water.

So people expect my light fixtures to, say, look like I swiped them from my church in the eighties. They anticipate that when I serve lemonade, it will cascade from an ugly plastic pitcher.

Perspective is everything. read more

Spiritual Life Skills for Kids: 10 Ideas to Help you Build Submission and Respect

November 14, 2017 / / 0 Comments
Reading Time: 5 minutes

Like this series? Get more of these here.

I’ve been putting this post off.

It’s pretty much because creating a sense of respect in my kids still makes me want to tear my hair out.  Admittedly, my oldest is now 13, so we’re breaking new ground in this area. read more

ADHD and What Works for Us: Tips, tactics–and hope

October 6, 2017 / / 2 Comments
Reading Time: 7 minutes

Author’s note: This post veers a bit to a niche audience. But my posts on what I’m learning from my son’s learning disorders—ADHD and dysgraphia—and this one on helping our kids turn suffering into praise have been perennially visited by whom I can only assume are parents hoping to adjust to similarly harrowing and frustrating diagnoses.

I’m not a doctor or an expert—just a parent who has found some gratitude in all this.

Six years ago, my heart wasn’t just gripped by preparations to heave our family of six over to Africa. It took only till September of my son’s kindergarten year to piece together that something wasn’t right. read more

« Older posts Newer posts »

Archives

© 2024 THE AWKWARD MOM

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑

Show Buttons
Hide Buttons