Take charge of this Christmas by planning to enjoy it thoroughly. This Christmas checklist offers ideas for more choices encouraging you to create Christmas intentionally for your family. Consider this checklist to create new memories for your family.

Being a mom is hard work every day. To be entrusted with the life, health takes commitment and prayer. A mother’s investment insists on time and energy covered with prayer and hope. If you are a mom look beyond the daily busyness. Affirm the immeasurable influence a mom possesses over her child. Any mom willing to dedicate the time and work required to motherhood deserves a standing ovation

Have you ever calculated the number of hours you spend in your car? If you have children, you might be transporting them back and forth to school daily. When your vehicle is full of little people, the daily car time can lead to trash spilling out as the car doors open or fights over who will sit where. Whether you function as a couple, a single mom, a small family, a large family, a grandparent or just by yourself most of the time, the following ideas might create more pleasant travel time.

Emotional health is vital to our physical and spiritual health. Taking inventory of our whole person is critical to moving through each day with our optimal potential. When thinking about embracing my everyday, it is especially important to recognize any toxic thinking patterns that might sabotage any capacity for growth. Latency or underdevelopment may hamper what I could be or eliminate future success. If shame is a reoccurring theme in my thoughts, it might be identified as a bully. Let’s explore shame in contrast to guilt along with the healthy pathway to eradicate this type of toxic thinking.

Being a parent is just hard work. The stages of childhood change rapidly. Approaching the subject of dating with your child can be downright intimidating. Before you begin, know that dating is radically different from how it was when you were a teenager and young adult. Sexual promiscuity is rampant. Sexual identity, date rape, binge drinking, emotional cheating, sexting and a host of new and more shocking behavior is the normal for today’s teens. Becoming more acquainted with today’s culture is a necessary, on-going job of today’s parents.

As a mom of two beautiful daughters, the topic of beauty materializes often. This article is intended to encourage the validation of the beauty in your daughter and mine. It is imperative that we speak intentionally to the dehumanizing of our daughters by the culture. What are the messages they hear which define beauty?

As a former rough water lifeguard and eager health enthusiast, I completely support physical exercise being part of growing a whole child.  However, I struggle with the emphasis on sports in today’s youth culture.  Every kid walks away from their chosen sport someday…….then what?  Many coaches and parents fail to identify the lifetime value of sports because they falsely assume they are training the next state champs. So when the lights go out, when the cheering stops, when it is time to “leave it on the field”…. what do we have when the game is over?

Due to the financial strain families feel in the current economy, discussions about food costs occur more frequently than ever. Many rising costs offer us little options for keeping our funds in-line with earnings. However, food is one of those more flexible categories. Discover easy-to-implement ideas on how to save money without scissors.

Need MORE time? Looking for ideas to boost efficiency in your daily routines? Scrutinizing your everyday with the goal of more play time and more learning time created by less housework? Contemplating a new scheme for less energy extended toward house maintenance? Consider a few of these ideas to improve your management of home and time.