Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Noting Grace

Home
Family, Parenting and Religion
How I’m becoming a better Mom in 30 days

How I’m becoming a better Mom in 30 days

Last updated on: January 13, 2017 at 4:13 pm by Jennifer Fancher

How I’m becoming a better Mom in 30 days 2017-01-13T16:13:17-05:00 Jennifer Fancher

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I’m a failure as a mother.

Oh, I wish I could smile and laugh and tell you that being a mom is the easiest, most rewarding thing I’ve ever done, all while having perfect hair, the cutest outfit and my lipstick just so, but I can’t lie.

Sometimes it’s tough.

Sometimes I am overflowing with love for my boys that suddenly transforms to instant rage within a few seconds without any warning. Remember my Mommy Dearest moment – minus the lashings?

Friends, I need to become a better mom.

Do you ever feel like that? (Please tell me you do.)

The truth is that I know I’m not alone in this. I’m pulling the veil away on this supermom-I-love-every-drop-of-this-parenting-thing charade. We are fooled by articles, social media, and TV shows that tell us being a parent is easy. And when we don’t reach those proposed standards, shame and disappointment set in. I more often worry about saving money for my boys’ therapy sessions instead of saving for college.

When I was invited to join in on the 30 Day Kindness Challenge, I felt as if someone had thrown me a life preserver. It was serendipitous.

The Kindness Challenge has been proven to improve your relationships by doing just these three things every day for a month.

POSITIVITY: Say nothing negative about your person – either to them or about them to someone else.
PRAISE: Every day, find one positive thing that you can truly praise or affirm about your person and tell them, and tell someone else.
KINDNESS: Each day during the challenge, do a small act of kindness or generosity for them.

Isn’t that so easy? My husband and I are both pledging to work on our relationships with our sons.

I know that by choosing our children as our focus, the challenge will be trying to navigate the fine line between discipline and kindness. Ashamedly, I must admit that I lose my patience far too often and being kind to my most precious treasures escapes me in the heat of the moment.

When I should be soft, I snap.

When I need to give a hug, I offer criticism instead.

When they need me to listen to them, I split my focus because it doesn’t seem important to me, but I know that little Lego creation means the world to them.

sigh

I have a long way to go and loads of improving to do, and I’m so excited to begin becoming better. I’m starting my challenge on January 16th and I would be so honored if you would join me! My challenge will end on Valentine’s day – which is a special day in our home, marking the day the boys dedicated their lives to Christ. I’ll be blogging about how my 30 Day Kindness Challenge is going.

Do you have a relationship you are desperately wanting to improve? You can choose anyone you wish. It can be your spouse, a parent or in-law, a co-worker, or even a friend.

If you sign up to participate, you will get one email each day with ideas on how to be kind that day. Won’t you join us? I would love to hear from all of you on your progress! Sign up here – you can pick the date you want to start. Let’s make 2017 a year of kindness!

This program is based on the book The Kindness Challenge: Thirty Days to Improve Any Relationship. If you would like your own copy, click here:

I love to hear from y’all and your comments make my day! To leave me a note, scroll to the bottom of this post.

I share with these wonderful people. This post contains affiliate links.

While I may receive a small compensation, all prices remain the same for you!

Wood Watches For Women

30 Day Kindness Challenge

Previous Post

January 7, 2017

10 Cozy Winter Throws for under $25

Next Post

January 16, 2017 Reupholstering a Wingback Chair: a No-Sew method

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category $$ Saving Tips Beauty in the Blemishes Blog Boys Room Christmas Cozy Dining Room Dining Room Table DIYs for $25 DIYs to Try Encouragement Family Room Farmhouse Faux Fireplace Furniture makeover Grace Grace Notes Hardwood Floors Heirloom Home tour I DIYed that Instagram Kitchen Master Painted signs Pallet Parenting Recipes Review Rockin' the Roundup Selling Your Home Series Spring Sweet Tea Ambassador That Time I the Almost Farmhouse the Vegas House Tutorial Uncategorized wreath

Select a Month July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 June 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 November 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 August 2011 May 2010 March 2010 January 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who said, "It is finished"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Peter Paul John Jesus