School Age Kids | Grit and Grace Life

This Is What Justin Timberlake Taught Me About Motherhood

Anyone else have the same albums saved on their iTunes account from the (dinosaur) days before streaming services? I must have downloaded Spotify around 2013 because when I’m not paying attention and plug my phone into my car, I’m listening to the likes of Nora Jones, Rascal Flatts, some old school Beyoncé, and Justin Timberlake. One of the songs that came on this morning was Justin Timberlake’s “Mirrors,” a beautiful love ballad created for his wife. Today, however, I found myself sitting in the Target parking lot thinking on the lyrics to this song, not from the perspective of a love song, but from the perspective of a mother. His words struck me: “It’s like you’re my mirror, my mirror staring back […]

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Ask Dr. Zoe – How Can I Parent Positively When My Kids Drive Me Crazy?

By Dr. Zoe / Ask Dr. Zoe

‘Kim’ Asked: How can I parent with positivity? My kids drive me crazy. They refuse to help me or are mean to each other way too often. I find myself complaining to them and about them. Dr. Zoe Answered: You and every other mother who cares about her parenting have asked a question just like this. Not only is parenting the hardest job ever, it requires you to assume a different job description with each child. That’s enough to send you to the crazy bin just when you thought you had it all figured out. I can see why you are drawn to positive parenting, though. It sounds really nice. Like a calm, happy, agreeable family all smiling at each other in

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Sure, It Was a Disaster… But Not a Failure

By Laila Schell / Motherhood

Lately I’ve been feeling like a failure and I just can’t seem to shake it. Maybe it’s because I’ve been with my kids for six months straight and I literally can’t remember the last time the house was clean and quiet. Or maybe it’s because we’re smack in the middle of a pandemic and every single decision I make (or don’t make) has me questioning whether or not it’s the right one, and whether or not some crazy butterfly effect will take place six months down the road, where I’ll look back and realize I have done something terribly wrong. Either way, I just had to sit down and write about it because I have a feeling I’m not the only one,

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What Your Kids Get When You Let Them Fail

By Dr. Zoe / Motherhood

I am not letting you off the hook as parents, but we seriously work way too hard sometimes. I’m talking about myself here. Scenario: I just got back home from taking my son to school. I have a million things to do in the next hour. I get an urgent text from my son saying that he forgot his iPad on the kitchen island (again) and needs it ASAP (of course!). Dilemma: I should really say no and let him learn his lesson, but it kills me that he will get an F because that assignment due today was on his iPad. Then my mind starts racing. This is high school! If he gets an F, it will affect his GPA. He

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Detangling the Lies You Believe in Motherhood

By Amy Geiger / Motherhood

I sat on the couch annoyed. I would be spending the next hour of my life detangling my two-year-old’s beautiful hair. Ever since she started preschool, she’s had this nervous habit of twirling her hair into knots. I am not referring to simple knots that are easily taken out by a comb. Picture instead a matted mess of dreads all along the left side of her head. After a long day of teaching, this was the seventh consecutive day that I had spent unknotting and untwisting the disaster. All I wished to do in that moment was to laugh with her, to read with her, or just do something halfway pleasant. Instead, she sat and watched Mickey Mouse and I was infuriated

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When You Don’t Love Your Kids’ Dreams

By Carey Melton / Motherhood

There is something to be said for a kid who knows what they want and won’t let it go. We all remember Ralphie from the timeless Christmas classic, “A Christmas Story,” and his infamous Red Ryder BB gun. We saw the joy it brought him and we rallied behind his dream of owning that gun. But we also saw how the adults in his life labeled his obsession as immaturity and a “little” dream. But it wasn’t little to him. With the humblest of intentions, we dream of our children growing up and living a comfortable American Dream life, and we decorate their nurseries with Hobby Lobby art that read phrases like “Dream big, little one” and “If you can dream it,

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Is School Starting or Not? Hope for Stressed Moms

By Darlene Brock / Health & Beauty, Motherhood

I was in Walmart recently as they were filling the shelves with the annual back-to-school supplies. It’s 2020, and a new school year is starting. Or is it? Are they teaching in the classroom, or is the education they offer online? Or, are you faced with the option to choose? If you’re like most parents looking to their school board for guidance, you are still in uncharted and uncertain territory. As in most things, information comes from every side, and what it brings is almost impossible to weed through because it remains contradictory. The American Academy of Pediatrics says kids need to go to school, “the APA strongly advocates that all policy considerations for the coming school year should start with a goal

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A Simple Phrase That Will Encourage Every Mom

By Meaghan Dawson / Motherhood

It’s been happening for about a month now, this 3 a.m. visit. It starts with a creeping tip-toe, then a gentle tap on my shoulder. Sometimes there are tears, sometimes there aren’t. But it always ends the same, really, with an elbow in my ribs and a foot jammed into my husband’s back. Always. We’re really not sure why they started, these visits. If you ask my daughter during the daytime, when she’s wide awake and lucid, she wouldn’t be able to tell you. It’s a mystery even to her. But for whatever reason, every night for the past few weeks, she’s visited our bedroom in the wee hours of the morning, scared and needing comfort. So, of course, we open up

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10 Simple Things You Can Do to Raise Quality Kids

By Melissa Dyer / Motherhood

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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Real Advice Any Grit and Grace Mom Can Use Now – 134

By Smart Living with Grit and Grace / Podcast

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Android | TuneIn | RSS | More Motherhood has all the feels: pride, joy, fear, accomplishment, worry, and overwhelm (often with a hefty side of mom-guilt). Juggling these terrifying and satisfying waters can be challenging, especially if you want to master motherhood with both Grit and Grace. Real-life moms, Darlene Brock (who’s raised two daughters, now upgraded to Nonie—her fancy title for grandmother) and Julie Graham (widowed boymom in the trenches of single motherhood like many of you) share practical tips to do this. Strong Mama, don’t worry that you’re messing up or that you’re alone. In this episode, Julie and Darlene share hands-on advice on parenting techniques that they learned and have

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To My Teacher Wife, They Should See Everything You Do

By Ashley Johnson / Life & Culture

In light of all that our teachers are doing right now, we felt they should be honored in a special way during teacher appreciation week (and beyond). To do that well, we asked someone who knows more about this career than most people to give us some insight… To My Teacher Wife, Teachers have the ability to leave a lasting impression on people, but nothing compares to the experience of being married to one. What I have come to learn in our marriage is that teaching is so much more than a profession. It is a calling. I have never met someone more selfless, compassionate, encouraging, determined, or invested in what they do. The first time I heard you refer to your

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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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Sex Trafficking: Why Kids are at Risk and What You Can Do to Protect Them with Christy Ivie – 121

By Smart Living with Grit and Grace / Podcast

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Android | TuneIn | RSS | More We need to talk about sex trafficking. We assume it’s not a problem that is occurring in our backyard, or even in our country, and that couldn’t be further from the truth. Whether you like it or not, it’s happening in every community across the United States—even in yours. It doesn’t always look the way we think it would. A victim could look like a middle-class teenager at your kids high school who is still living at home. In this episode of This Grit and Grace Life podcast, hosts Darlene and Julie are joined by Christy Ivie, the founder of Christy’s Cause, a non-profit working to eradicate

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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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Ask Dr. Zoe – I Love Being a Working Mom, But I Need More Balance!

By Dr. Zoe / Ask Dr. Zoe

‘Balancing Busy Mama’ Asked: I’m a single mom who works nearly full-time. I love my son, and I love my work, but sometimes it feels impossible to do it all. I find it hard to admit this to friends who don’t work because they often want to answer it by saying I should stop working. Well, that’s not an option, and honestly, I wouldn’t want to (say I were to remarry one day). What are some real ways to balance it and succeed in both career and motherhood? Dr. Zoe Answered: Balancing Busy Mama, Guess what? You’re right! It is impossible to do it all perfectly and beautifully—so let’s just get that out in the open right now! Sometimes it will be

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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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