Motherhood Challenges Need a Grit and Grace Life

10 Simple Things You Can Do to Raise Quality Kids

I didn’t grow up with one of those amazing mothers who knows all and solves all. Quite the contrary, unfortunately. I also did not have grandmothers, aunts, or other women in my life who could fill in this gap. Therefore, I needed to fill this gap. I read up and listened in, acquiring bits and pieces of wisdom from other mothers who did come from those kinds of families. Because the very best wisdom is passed along when it’s tried, tested, and relevant to you. Books are great for laying thorough groundwork, but relationships are the place where you can get the affirmation and application you need the most. The one thing I did know was this: I wanted to raise quality humans. […]

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What You Need to Protect Your Child From Sexual Exploitation

By Christy Ivie / Motherhood

If you are like me, I dreaded talking about sexuality with my kids. Unfortunately, in this digital age, if we wait too long and don’t share age-appropriate information, our children could learn a distorted view of sexuality from strangers or even predators. We can all agree sex trafficking and sexual exploitation of children are horrific epidemics, ones that we never want to personally affect our children. According to the National Human Trafficking Hotline, my home state of Florida ranks third in the nation in reported cases of human trafficking, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s Cyber Tip Line received over 18.4 million reports in 2018 related to child sexual abuse images, online enticement, sextortion, child sex trafficking, and child

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How to Get Your Kids Involved in the Kitchen, Safely

By Jessica Baker / Motherhood

As parents, we’re all working on getting our kids away from the screens, and interested in interacting with new and exciting hobbies. It can be hard as a working parent to make time for planning activities, cooking dinner, raising strong kids, and hitting deadlines. By getting your kids involved in cooking early, they’ll be independent quicker, which will save you time down the road. Teaching your young ones to cook is not only an exciting new outlet, but it’s a skill they’ll use the rest of their lives. By teaching them the proper cooking techniques, they’ll have a jump start on their peers, and you may even get a dinner or two out of it! Before tying up those aprons, print the

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This Single Mom Bought a Pop-Up Camper and This Is What Happened…

By Ashley Vancil / Motherhood

Have you ever gone through so much in one year you just know something big, grand, and wonderful is waiting for you next year? I am pretty sure I woke up on January 1 saying, “Hello, you beautiful new blessed year; let’s do this thing!” Then all the things start happening in life that aren’t the things you planned to happen and before you know it it’s halfway through the year and you go into panic mode. Maybe this isn’t your year at all, and things haven’t fallen beautifully into place. I suppose I am grateful that for me they have not. I know that may sound a little insane and honestly, I hope you realize just how sane it really is.

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6 Relatable Mom Moments That Will Make You Laugh Out Loud

By Ashley Johnson / Motherhood

Our kids can embarrass us and make us laugh. These moms are sharing a few of those moments. “I will never forget this Target run” I will never forget the time my two oldest and I went to Target for a quick errand. One of my girls had to go to the bathroom and decided to pull her pants down while we were still in the entryway to the store. I’m fumbling around trying to pull her pants back up, and she is fighting me trying to pull them back down. “But I have to poop, Mom!” I carried a half-naked 4-year-old under my arm like a sack of potatoes through the entire store, just to hear her say, “I don’t have

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This Is How Mom Can Save the Day When Plans Change

By Melissa Dyer / Motherhood

From the “Love My Senior” Facebook profile frames to the “Drive-By Birthday Party” article on Patch.com, disappointment is lurking around every corner. While I was walking (a healthy 6-feet-apart and then some) with my neighborhood friend, she shared some of the other disappointments to the mix: canceled bridal and baby showers, weddings, anniversary trips, etc. The emotional buoyancy we acquire through the natural rhythms of milestone celebrations seems to be elusive right now. That is if we fail to make contingency plans. Maybe the celebrations might look a bit different than we had planned, but that doesn’t mean they need to be skipped entirely. I’m in this with you. My son is 18, a high school senior who has not committed to

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To the Mom Terrified of Homeschooling Through the Pandemic

By Dr. Zoe / Motherhood

I’m a homeschool mom, but don’t write me off as not understanding your situation. Although I’ve homeschooled four out of my five children at various times over the last 15 years, I am currently only homeschooling my youngest. But my other kids are back home now (even the one in college), and we’re finding our new normal. I’m not that homeschooling mom who thinks that everyone should homeschool because it’s the best thing since sliced bread. Don’t get me wrong. I love those women! They are walking in their purpose, but they’re not going to help you right now. If homeschooling was your calling, you would have already been doing it voluntarily, right? First, take a deep breath, mama. Take a couple

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3 Ways You Can Save Money on a Prom Dress

By Meaghan Dawson / Motherhood

My senior prom dress was a floor-length, beaded, navy blue nightmare. Yes, you read that right. It was a nightmare for a lot of reasons. First of all, it was sexy. Which, I guess for some, is not a nightmare but looking back I see it now for what it was—way too sexy for a high school senior. A floor-length, navy blue, beaded number (we’ll get to those dreaded beads in a second); it was something you’d see on a Miss America contestant. It was tight; I’m talking skin-tight—so much so that it was hard to breathe and impossible to enjoy the only mildly appetizing prom food. The slit up to my mid-thigh was definitely not age-appropriate. Second, the beads…oh, the beads!

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What Your Teen Needs to Know About Dating

By Melissa Solle / Motherhood

Do you remember decades ago when you were in high school and how the week of Valentine’s Day always brought so much anxiety and anticipation (or loathing)? The high school I went to would sell flowers that week to be delivered on Valentine’s Day during homeroom—some would be sent anonymously and others would have a sentiment from a friend or an admirer. Every year girls (particularly girls) would wonder the entire week if they would get a flower. Cue the early 1990s version of The Bachelor, “Would you accept this rose?” Every year I was no different. I usually had my eye on a cute boy, hoping they had their eye on me. My friends would do the same. (Psst, if your daughter

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Why This Girl Mom Thanks God for Unanswered Prayers (For a Boy)

By Amber Koehn / Motherhood

Life has a funny way of working out sometimes. Have you ever heard the song, “Unanswered Prayers,” by Garth Brooks? It’s about a man who takes his wife back to his hometown, and they run into his high school sweetheart. The man reminisces about asking God to make the high school sweetheart his wife, but he ends up marrying this other woman instead. In hindsight, he realizes it was a blessing that God did not answer his original prayer, even though he couldn’t understand why at the time. Growing up, I just knew that when I became a mom, I was going to have two boys and a girl. For years, I operated under the assumption that God would agree, my plan

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Want to Be a Trim Healthy Mama? Try This Simple Plan

By Phylicia Fraser / Motherhood

Serene Allison and Pearl Barrett are two sisters from Down Under who happen to have 19 children between them. They’ve also managed to find a way to stay healthy and trim and feed their families meals that they actually enjoy. However, it wasn’t an easy journey to get there. They’re the first to say that maintaining a healthy, balanced diet can seem impossible. In this BuzzFeed article, Serene said, “We as women can put on a happy face, but so many of us have a deep desperate longing for a way to be trim and healthy without all the usual awfulness that goes hand in hand with that.” We’ve all felt the disappointment of trying out a new diet that doesn’t go well. You

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Dear Single Mom, This Is Why You Inspire Me

By Jennifer Grassman / Motherhood

Dear Single Mom, I want you to know that you give me hope. Life is so fragile. Relationships are fragile. As a married, stay-at-home mom of three very young girls, I often worry. What will I do if my husband loses his job? What if he gets sick? What if he gets hurt? What if something terrible happens? And then I look at you. You probably don’t always feel this way, but when I look at you I see strength. I see courage, determination, endurance, and self-sacrifice. I see a woman who overcomes obstacles; who gets things done and knows how to hold her own. I see God’s hand working in every aspect of your life, and I take comfort in the

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Mom, You Know When Your Kid Needs a Win

By Meaghan Dawson / Motherhood

The folder is bright orange; bright like a hunting vest or a parking cone—neon, really, if I had to describe it. It’s giant too; a spiral-bound notebook of the largest available size, stuffed full of papers and notes, well-loved and often used, the binding on the back starting to come unhinged. It’s really quite hard for me to believe, knowing this, that he missed it sitting in his homework bin. But he did. My sixth-grade son packed his backpack, walked out the door, and went to school without this very important, very bright orange folder. If I’m honest, my first reaction is not one I’m proud of; my first reaction was one of annoyance. This child, who has my whole heart and

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Grit and Grace for the New or First Time Mom

By Bethany Gilliland / Motherhood

So you recently did—or are anxiously awaiting—to welcome a sweet (and stinky) little babe into the world! First of all, congratulations! There’s not much that’s more beautiful in this world than that. But, we all know babies are equally as mysterious and exhausting as they are beautiful. At Grit and Grace Life, one of our goals is to be a place where women who have walked a difficult road can look back and encourage those currently going through something similar. Today, that’s you: the new mother. As a new mom or mom-to-be, you’ve got lots of questions. What new responsibilities will I have? What if my child ? How do I keep my own identity as a mother? Well, it turns out that

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Every Mom Needs Her Own Highlight Reel, This Is Why

By Ashley Johnson / Audio Articles, Motherhood

(Listen to the audio version of this article here.) We all do it. The long-awaited moments of silence ensue, and what do we do after those crazy little humans are sleeping in their beds? Pull out our phone and enjoy a recap of our day. We spend countless hours with these people, during which we dream of all the luxurious things we will do after bedtime. You know, like, eat a meal, take a shower, or complete a task such as the dishes, respond to a text, or RSVP to something without interference. But then, that magical moment arrives, and we do this silly thing… We stare at the compilation of snapshots and videos that made up our day: the morning smiles

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10 Ways to Make Memories With Your Kids When You Work Full-Time

How to Make Memories With Your Kids When You Work Full-Time

By Carey Melton / Motherhood

What do you remember about your childhood? I don’t cherish the toys I was given or the lavish gifts. I remember and hold on to the late nights when my mom would still be awake when I got home from a date and wanted to hear all about it. I remember looking over and seeing my dad walk up to an afternoon tennis match after he worked all day. When trying to create special moments with your fast-growing children, especially while trying to juggle work, don’t worry about the things you can replace with money. Worry about the things money can’t buy. 10 practical ways to make memories with your kids when you work full-time: 1. Read to your kids each night.

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This Is Why Choosing Life Was Hard

By Shannon Barbosa / HerStory, Motherhood

On June 20th, the most heartbreaking thing happened in my state. Rhode Island state senator, Gina Raimondo, passed an “abortion protection bill.” She stated, “The essential protections instilled by the RPA will ensure all Rhode Islanders—and especially people of color, people with low incomes, and anyone who struggles with barriers to health care—can access the reproductive health care services they need,” she said in a statement. “Abortion is health care, reproductive care is health care, and health care is a human right.”1 How anyone can fight so hard to protect the act of abortion and not human life and call it a human right, I will never understand. I fell under two out of the three categories she described as hardships. I,

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