More Snuggles, Less Screaming.

I love my kids.  I really do - anyone who knows me can attest to that.  They are my entire world and I like it that way.  (you know what's coming next, right?)


BUT ...  Behind closed doors I don't always act that way.  Don't get me wrong, we have more love and fun and happiness going through our house than most people.  It's really just those "mommy-focused" times that need a major improvement.

What's a "mommy-focused" time? For me it may be different than others because I am a true blue single mom.  This project is not about bashing my ex-husband or his parenting choices, so I will spare you the unnecessary details.  Let's just say 355 days of the year it's all on me.  So I do not get much alone time, or decompression time.  And instead of finding ways to manage that, I often have small explosions in the privacy of my own home.  No violence, but a LOT of screamin' and hollerin'. 

I do not want my kids to be on the receiving end of my adult stresses and frustrations.  In order to get this crazy train moving in the right direction, I'm starting with the 9 most important minutes of their day, according to this podcast :

There are nine minutes during the day that can have the greatest impact on a child.

• the first three minutes–right after they wake up
• the three minutes after they come home from school, and
• the last three minutes of the day–before they go to bed.

I'm not going to lie, if I just scan these scenes over the last week I can assure you I have probably caused more damage during these times than any other in my kids' days.  It makes me sad to think about it, so I can only imagine how it crushes my babies :(

I figure the best way for me to tackle this endeavor is to start with our hectic mornings.  If I can start their day (and mine) off on a positive note at least we have a chance at riding that wave through the day.

Nobody is reading this blog.  No one is subscribed or knows about it.  In fact it's really just to hold myself accountable.  And maybe one day blogs will be like tattered diaries and my kids will find this and realize I might not have been June Cleaver, but I really tried to be the best mom I could be. 

Stay tuned for a daily (hopefully) report of our first 3 minutes each morning and I'm going to hit the last 3 minutes before I leave them too...  I'm an overachiever!