Stories – Mamie L. Pack

It’s still your year: 17 creative ways to use your planner

Are you feeling like packing up your 2021 planner? If you do, you are not alone. As a planner lover, I was so excited to dive into my 2021 planner. I spent time intentionally deciding the design, layout, and purpose of my planner. Oh, I had all the ideas. Then ‘Rona. All of the plans I had laid out are canceled. No reason to track day dates with my hubby, family trips, extracurricular sports for our fellas, or vacations. Just like that, it felt like a sudden break up with my planner. For a[...]

Feature, Motherhood, Raising boys, Relationships, Stories

Cultivating Motherhood: 3 bad habits hurting your relationship with your kids (+ what you can do about it)

Raising four active, strong-willed, rambunctious boys has been and is one of the greatest joys and the biggest challenges of my life. Over the years there have been plenty of mistakes I have made sometimes hurting the very hearts I love so much. I would make promises to myself to do better tomorrow, only to find myself laying in bed praying for God to forgive me for my bad attitude, negative words, and wasted moments. My bad habits made me think I was a bad mother. Have you ever thought that way too? If s[...]

Feature, Motherhood, Raising boys, Stories

Calm Mom: 3 ways to respond to your tween’s negative behavior without losing your cool

Are you dealing with difficult teens and tweens? Dealing with your teen and tween's negative behavior and bad habits can be a challenge. I get it. It was a typical afternoon. I stopped to pick up my fellas from their school, the car door opened. Getting in our vehicle, my usually fun-loving, mild-mannered tween clearly was in a mood. “I’m glad to see you,” I said while waiting for my fellas to buckle up.“I don’t see what is so good about it,” my tween mumbled under his breath while slump[...]

Feature, Mid-week three, Motherhood, Raising boys, Relationships, Stories

Bridging the gap: 3 tips to help your introvert child thrive when you are an extrovert parent

Every since our fourth son was little, he interacted with the world differently. He was reserved and reflective. He would rather play alone, observing everyone around him. Our fella was quite different from me. That’s when I realized, unlike his three older brothers, our youngest son was an introvert. Now, this is not earthshattering, but it did mean I needed to adjust how I was going to help our child thrive at home and in school. My expectations needed to shift. After being an educator for over 10 years[...]

Mid-week three, Motherhood, Stories

Mommy Meltdown: 3 tips for shaking off mom guilt

Hey momma! You woke up today full of good intention. Sure, you meant to be patient. You meant to speak kindly. I am sure you meant to be present and treat each moment as a gift. Oh, yes! Your intentions were so good. Then you stepped out the bed. Off in the distance, you hear the dreaded crash followed by an “uh oh.” Maybe it was that moment you knew today was going to be a challenge. Nah, it could have been the three hours of sleep you had because you were up breastfeeding the baby and you haven’t h[...]