Getting advice from your mom does not mean that you are a bad parent. It simply means you are willing to admit that you aren't the only one who can solve a parenting issue. Besides, if you turned out to be a fairly decent person, your mom must know a thing or two about motherhood. No one does everything perfect, but most every woman who has embarked on motherhood has a good tip or two share.
The best piece of advice I got from my mom was actually indirect. However, I don't think it was very accidental. While she never outright told me to apply this to raising my own kids, the way she raised my siblings and I led me right into that direction. As far back as I can remember, my mom always inserted creativity into everything we did. Before I even had kids, I knew I would do the same. That creativity is a big part of what made our childhood so fun. As a matter of fact, it also lends a great deal to my career choice as a published freelance writer and author. Anyhow, getting to the parenting of my own kids, in some of the first moments with my newborn first daughter, my mind wandered thinking of all the creative adventures I soon would be having with her. The first creative adventure with her came in the form of cleaning up an interesting newborn mess. However, her first craft project was much more fun than that. I remember the joy on her face as she dipped her tiny hands in finger paint and slopped it all over a big pile of papers in front of her. I had to again use the creativity as I cleaned up the mess afterward, but those creative moments shared with her were worth more than a perfectly clean house would have been. Often, when rainy-day activities come to mind, people think of arts and crafts or board games. We do those things as well, but sometimes we like to be a little bit more creative. Whoever said you had stay inside the house on a rainy-day? Provided there's no thunder and lightning, you can bet it wasn't me. That's for sure.
As long as there is no sign of thunder and lightning, my kids and I will gladly go right in the yard, just like any other time. Of course we wear jackets and whatever other rain gear might be necessary, but running in the rain is a rainy-day activity that the kids and I enjoy as often as possible. Just seeing their cheerful faces enjoying the fun is always a great motherhood moment. A while back, my kids and I had one of those fun, rainy-day adventures. It was my job to crank up the music and act as DJ, while the kids danced on the patio in the rain. They requested songs and danced away until the rain stopped. At the time,. my kids ranged in age from preschool to middle school age and they all enjoyed this fun activity. When you add creativity and think outside the box, it's often a big hit with kids. One of the best things about kids is that they are always open to having fun, even on a rainy day. For me, parenting is all about living in the moment and taking things as they come. These tiny little moments of fun in motherhood mean everything. My mom always taught me to treasure the small stuff. Before you know it, the kids will no longer be kids and motherhood will have taken on a whole new meaning and role.
A few weekends ago, the kids had some good friends over and being a holiday (though, not one we celebrate in the most popular way), I had promised I wouldn't work too much. I never promise a whole day off because I'm a workaholic and a single mother. I also work at home so my work is readily available, but I digress. An opportunity presented itself to wing it, so I did.
Forming A Brilliant Idea Because we had nothing better to do, I get this brilliant beyond brilliant idea to take all of my kids, both of our dogs, plus some of their friends and an extra dog to the park. I don't have a vehicle, so of course the plan was to walk on the trail that led us to the intended park. Our nature trails can take us to several parks, depending on which way we choose to go. We chose the largest park and headed that way. Yes, I am insane enough to take a walk with six kids and three dogs with only me as the sole adult. Us single parents know how to work it whatever it may be. Learning the Many Ways To Wing It The kids wanted to play on the way, of course. So who was going to walk the dogs? Why me, of course. Yep, winging it because I had never walked the extra dog before, nor had she been walked with our dogs and here I was about to hold all three of their leashes together. Thankfully, it worked out well. They had been introduced briefly a few times and apparently that was enough to satisfy them all. In some situations, you just have to go with the flow and let the chips fall as they may. The restroom and drinking fountain were closed and of course the kids needed both so we made use of a nearby store for both purposes and went right back to playing. The dogs wanted to run around and the kids wanted to use the playground so I found a spot in the field that was next to the playground so I could run with the dogs while watching the kids. Life Lessons In Winging It For Everyone Throughout this walk and park visit, many interesting situations came up where I had to wing it. But that's life. No matter how much you plan things, sometimes you just have to wing it and in the end, you may find out that winging it is the both the best lesson and the best fun you've had in quite a long time. It's quite fine to plan things. You have to have goals. But it's also good to just let it go and let it flow. All of these scenarios could have been stressful and some may not have gotten involved in the whole thing, to begin with. But I've quickly learned in many experiences that if you have an open mind and are aware of your surroundings (and all the many ways you can use them to your advantage), life can lead to some fun adventures. Just wing it! Your life is waiting for you! You're welcome. With all the success stories out there, it can be so easy to fall into wishing you had someone else's story or someone else's career. But the truth is you need to create your own success story. Here's how and why. Uniqueness Rules Chances are that a main reason each example you are looking up to has done well is uniqueness. Attempts at duplicating someone else's unique qualities instead makes a copycat. Find your own uniqueness and use that to succeed instead. But His Method Really Worked It's fine to take notes and learn tricks of the trade. But there's a fine line between using strategies and copying someone's entire game plan. What works for one person won't always work for another. Even if parts of it do, it works better when it's tailored to the exact person. Take all the advice you can get. Then, use what you can to find your own perfect road to success. Learn to be Innovative People are not going to be excited about your ideas if they have heard the same things from other people. Again, using strategic advice can be helpful. However, your success needs to truly be yours if you want it to last. Find new ways to solve old problems. Be innovative and bold if you want to stand out. Create Your Own Success Your story is your own, as are your thoughts and actions. Use those to create your own success. While copying another idea might work for a while, authenticity will always shine through. This is because connections are made through anything you put out there. If what you have is a copy, your messages and products will lose touch with those who connected once you run out of steam. When you are speaking your truth, that connection is more likely to stay. This is in part due to your audience being to connect to the truth. It is also because you are less likely to run out of things to say because it is coming from the heart, rather than what someone else said or did. Web Writing Tips: Innovation Rules Web Writing Tips: Zany or Serious? How to Keep Readers Interested in Your Articles |
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