| The Grit and Grace Project

Ask Dr. Zoe – Help! I Get so Frustrated With My Toddler!

‘Matel’ Asked: Hi Zoe, my question to you is as follows. I get frustrated when my girl 3.5 years old does not act the way I want her too. She is very hyper, fearless and very wild 🙂 i end up shouting, being upset and being in bad mood quite often than normal. How can I come to manage my emotions? I feel hopeless at times when parenting become tough. Thanks Dr. Zoe Answered: First, please know that all mamas feel that way. You are not alone. These little ones that we love so much, instinctively know how to push all of our buttons. Your daughter is an individual person with a will of her own. This may be hard to hear, […]

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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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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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Ask Dr. Zoe – Help! My Mom Undermines Me as a Parent

By Dr. Zoe / Ask Dr. Zoe

‘Nicole’ Asked: I have a 10-year-old daughter and my mother lives next door. My mom has stated that she feels her current purpose in life is to help me with my family. When I make a decision for my child or family, it is sometimes overrun by mom. For instance, if I tell my child to come home for dinner the child will ask Grandma if she can eat at her house – and of course, Grandma says yes even though she knows I have dinner prepared for my family. I feel caught because I know my mom views taking care of us highly, but I also keep getting undermined by her and my daughter. Suggestions? Dr. Zoe Answered: Yeah, it’s time

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Why You Need to Let Your Teenager Go

By Amber Koehn / Motherhood

My daughter’s middle school recently held a parent meeting for students interested in its biennial trip to Washington, D.C., and surrounding areas. This excited me and also terrified me for a couple of reasons. It doesn’t seem possible that I have a child old enough to go on the same trip I went on, but then again, it doesn’t seem likely that it’s been 25 years since I went on that trip. The adventure consists of several days on the east coast touring monuments and museums in D.C., Pennsylvania, and Virginia. It is held every other year for students who have completed eighth grade, and it is a phenomenal learning experience. The teacher who hosted the meeting has been the primary sponsor

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4 Tips That Can Heal Your Mother-Daughter Drama

By Hannah Cox / Relationships

The mother-daughter relationship is both beautiful and complicated. Today, I am proud to say that my mom is not just a great adviser and trusted confidant in my life, but she is also my friend. Our relationship hasn’t always been long conversations, all day shopping dates, and mother-daughter trips. Seven years ago, one of the most devastating seasons of our family’s life turned out to be the very thing we needed to bring our relationship back to life. I spent the majority of my childhood and teen years speaking hateful words to my mom. I did not get along with her. I am a free spirit and she is very orderly. Every time I tried to grow or do something unique, I

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Your Mom Always Said This (And She Was Right)- 079

By Smart Living with Grit and Grace / Podcast

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Android | TuneIn | RSS | MoreLooking back we all recall the mom phrases: “Don’t roll your eyes, they’ll get stuck like that”, “If your friend jumped off a bridge…” and “Because I said so, that’s why!” These all-too-familiar phrases became ones we mouthed in the backseat of the car as we were growing up. There also may have been phrases like “I love you no matter what” that she never said, but you wished she would have. On this episode, Darlene and Julie revisit several expressions moms are famous for, as well as ones they didn’t say, but you needed. If you’re a mom, you will find yourself repeating these to your

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These Strategies Will Help You Raise Great Kids – 063

By Smart Living with Grit and Grace / Podcast

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Android | TuneIn | RSS | More It doesn’t take a perfect mom to raise great kids. It takes intentionality, grit, and grace! Author and Co-Host, Darlene Brock, shares her hindsight and offers practical tips from her new book, Raising Great Girls: Help for Moms to Raise Confident, Capable Daughters (perfection not required), that will apply to moms of both genders. As a single boy mom, Julie asks honest questions and explores how Darlene navigated the tricky parenting situations in which most parents find themselves. Darlene explains how being your child’s coach, creative counselor, and professor of gender studies (three of the jobs she unpacks in her book) makes all the difference in

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Talking About the Book, Raising Great Girls (Video)

By Our Grit and Grace Life Videos / Motherhood

This Grit and Grace Life podcast co-hosts Darlene Brock and Julie Graham talk about Darlene’s new book, Raising Great Girls, Help for Moms to Raise Confident, Capable Daughters (perfection not required). Interested in the book but want to know more? Click here to download a free chapter. Available now at Amazon.

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How Can You Raise Great Girls? Darlene’s Daughters Tell All – 054

By Smart Living with Grit and Grace / Podcast

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Android | TuneIn | RSS | MoreAre you trying to raise confident, capable daughters but feeling unsure about how you’re doing? Every mother feels that way! Darlene Brock, in her new book, Raising Great Girls, takes a look back at the years she raised her two daughters. By breaking down the roles, this mom took on doable jobs, and she shares what she learned. Since today is the official book release date, we wanted to celebrate by inviting her daughters to join us for this fun episode. You will hear firsthand from Darlene and her daughters the successes and failures that led to them becoming the adults they are today! Julie interviews Darlene, Loren,

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All the Feels from This First-Time Mom of a Teenager

By Amber Koehn / Motherhood

At the end of July, I will become the mom of a teenager. I am having a difficult time swallowing that thought: mom of a teenager. It was just yesterday that this sweet, shy two-year-old with spiral ringlets was playing with her Playskool Busy Ball Popper and reading Where Is Baby’s Belly Button? This girl who, at a very young age, fell in love with classic musicals like State Fair, The King and I, and The Sound of Music has now moved on to The Hunger Games and Harry Potter. How can she be 13? I swear I just gave birth to her. She was this tiny preemie (born four weeks early), but she was ready to take on our big, scary world.

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This Is What I Do When My Child Has ‘Big Emotions’

By Rachel Hagstrom / Motherhood

I lay down in bed with my daughter, snuggle close, and whisper, “Guess what? You have a superhero power.” The last 45 minutes have driven me to a state of sensory overload. The loud cries and tantrum-type behavior heightened by end-of-day depletion leave my nerves frazzled and on edge. The lines of communication blurred after my girl spouted off about something I asked her to do before getting ready for bed. I reacted in equal measures of frustration and disrespect, and shortly after, everything imploded. I’m ticked at her, but mostly at myself and the way I responded. I’m worn out; the sleepless nights are doing a number on me and on my headspace. I’m tempted to wave the white flag of

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If Your Daughter Is Boy-Crazy, You Need to Read This

By Darlene Brock / Motherhood

My daughters entered life as different creatures when it came to the opposite sex. To one, the attention of boys meant a lot. The other, well, not so much. I can’t say what created the difference; perhaps just their personalities because they came from the same gene pool. You may have one of those girls—maybe your daughter is boy-crazy, too! Since I was never one who was boy-crazy, I found it quite perplexing, feeling uncertain how to address this new frontier. My eldest daughter just liked the attention of boys. She wasn’t necessarily attached to them. In fact, we often said she discarded boys as one does a tissue in allergy season. I often felt sorry for those young men who showed

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When Is Your Teen out of Control and What Do You Do? With Dr. Zoe Shaw – 032

By Smart Living with Grit and Grace / Podcast

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Android | TuneIn | RSS | MoreAre you afraid your teen may be out of control? Or, is their behavior typical teenage boundary-pushing? When do you know that enough is enough and things have to change? These questions often consume the mind of a mom with a pre-teen or teenager. To determine when to draw a line, Darlene and Julie brought back our trusted friend and Licensed Therapist, Dr. Zoe Shaw. This family therapist of 16 years discusses when you need to give your teen room to make mistakes to learn from them, or how to recognize that the time has come to step in and intervene. If you have a teen (or

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You Are the Biggest Influence on Your Child’s Faith

By Teresa Christian / Faith

Having a newborn in your home is a marvelous thing. To look into that tiny face and realize that you have been given this gift is nearly overwhelming. Just a few short months ago this person wasn’t on the planet, and now he is in your arms. The weight of the responsibility far exceeds the little bit of effort it takes to lift him from his crib. Everything about him is life, newness, and precious. For parents who choose to raise their children to follow the teachings of their faith, it is no small undertaking. Our society is often referred to as “postmodern,” meaning, in an extremely simplified definition, that much of our world has stepped away from formerly traditional values of

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How to Be a #Girlmom

By Carey Melton / Motherhood

Being a #girlmom isn’t easy. Being a #boymom obviously has its challenges and surprises, and you have to be super tough to be a boy mom. After all, you are raising boys who turn into men and lead the world, lead their families, and you have to somehow teach them to do it faster than at the pace of a snail. But to be a girl mom, you have to know every possible emotion for all possible scenarios. You have to be prepared for them all. It’s fun, challenging, dramatic (in every sense of the word), terrifying, amusing, and invaluable. You might not be a girl mom, but you may one day be the girl mom-in-law. Nothing can take the place of a

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7 Things Your Daughter Needs for Back to School

By Rachel Graham / Motherhood

You might think this list would be compiled of back to school shopping items or handy gadgets, but we think these points are way more effective for her personal success. 1. A self esteem boost. Tell her how proud you are of her and how much you believe in her. Let her throw a back-to-school party with all of her friends and show her how great the year is going to be. 2. An understanding of her abilities. Invest in something like a Myers-Briggs personality assessment (there are plenty of free online links or “dummy” versions) or a strengths finder book or course so that she can work to improve her weaknesses and grow her strengths. Have her meet with someone who is similar

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