O-mama - Opinionated Moms

"Pay it forward."

Our kids watch everything we do (even when they pretend they don't)!  So, when they see us open a door for someone just cuz, it rubs off on them.  If they hear us say "thank you" and treat someone with respect, it makes a difference.  When someone is short on change and we can spare some, it shows them that we can do nice things for no reason at all.  There's no expectation, nothing in it for us, except a smile and a full heart.  

It doesn't cost us anything, but time and patience. These are priceless lessons we can teach our kids during the holidays...and every day!

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Check this off your list...the more moms that actually do it, the more change begins at home!

"It's a small world afterall."

Our world is getting smaller all the time...we are connected by technology...like it or not.  Our kids need to understand their place in their family, school, community, country and world.  The first step is knowing your world is figuring out where places are...so, when you see a movie, like Happy Feet 2, show your kids where it is on a map.  Play a game.  Mark it with a sticky note. When you talk about the Grand Canyon, show it to them.  It will open little roadmaps in their brains.  

If you do it place by place, as their interests are peaked, it will be relevant and remembered.  So, when they hear about Libya on the news, show them where it is in North Africa (so, they don't confuse it with the Middle East when they are all grown up and a representative in Congress?!#@!).

What other fun geography games do you play with your kids?

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Check this off your list...the more moms that actually do it, the more change begins at home!

"Be an Energy Miser - Use Electricity Wiser."

It’s easy to save energy and money MAMAS.  Here’s a few suggestions for saving cash and the environment:

• Tell kids not to leave lights on when no one is in the room. Fill up jar with marbles and tie to some incentive - i.e., if they have 20 marbles at the end of the week, they get special movie night.

• Make a reminder sticker or a sign to hang next to the switch that says "Lights Out!" or "Don't Forget!"

• Where possible, use compact fluorescent light bulbs. Those funny-looking bulbs produce the same amount of light by using 1/4 of the electricity. Plus, they last for years and years without burning out.

• Turn off the TV when no one is watching it. The same goes for computers, radios and stereos - if no one using it, turn it off.

How do you get your family to turn off the lights!?

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Check this off your list...the more moms that actually do it, the more change begins at home!

"Together, anything is possible."

The United States led a heroic endeavor to eliminate, yep eliminate, AIDS.  The goal is to have an AIDS free generation in just 3 years.  That is amazing.  When you join the RED initiative and buy RED products, partners will donate proceeds to the effort. The progress that has been made is staggering.  Bono summed it up best in his New York Times opinion piece, when he said:

"A conservative president, George W. Bush, leading the largest ever response to the pandemic; the same Mr. Bush banging his desk when I complained that the drugs weren’t getting there fast enough, me apologizing to Mr. Bush when they did; Bill Clinton, arm-twisting drug companies to drop their prices; Hillary Rodham Clinton, making it policy to eradicate the transmission of H.I.V. from mother to child; President Obama, who is expected to make a game changing announcement this World AIDS Day to finish what his predecessors started — the beginning of the end of AIDS.

And then there were the everyday, every-stripe Americans. Like a tattooed trucker I met off I-80 in Iowa who, when he heard how many African truck drivers were infected with H.I.V., told me he’d go and drive the pills there himself.

Thanks to them, America led. Really led."

For more information, check out blog.AIDS.gov.

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Check this off your list...the more moms that actually do it, the more change begins at home!

"The best inheritance a parent can give to his children is a few minutes of their time each day."

- M. Grundler

We are so crazy busy that we are eating on the run, doing homework in the car, running to and fro always on the go go.  So, stop.  Set aside sacred kitchen table time with the kids.  Sit down at the table and slow down enough to check in and find out about their day...have a laugh...digest.  It is so important to stay connected and this is an easy time to do it.  No phones.  No tv.  No interference.  Just family time.

According to Time, "studies show that the more often families eat together, the less likely kids are to smoke, drink, do drugs, get depressed, develop eating disorders and consider suicide, and the more likely they are to do well in school, delay having sex, eat their vegetables, learn big words and know which fork to use."  Geez - enough said?!

What are your fav ways to find out about your kids' day?

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Check this off your list...the more moms that actually do it, the more change begins at home!