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Passionate Mom

22 posts from Susan Merrill.

Parenting

How You Can Guard the Gate to Electronics

Phones, iPads, laptops, and video games may be a big part of your child’s Christmas joy. But after a week of policing your child’s use of their new technology, you may feel slightly less joyful. Electronics are here to stay and as a mom protecting your child while using electronis is your job. I call this guarding the gate to electronics. An excerpt from The Passionate Mom. Gate 5: The Electronics Gate This gate leads to today’s most popular entertainments: television, computers, music, movies, video games . . . I have covered much of why this is a gateway privilege. Anyone, adult or child, can lose himself in electronics for hours a day. I confess: I love technology and the sleek efficiency of what this gate has to offer. Gates are opportunities, but if misused, any gate can be an enticing distraction. (click to tweet) Electronics are not evil. They are wonderful tools for learning and entertainment, but they do require wisdom and self-control. (click to tweet) There are good choices and bad to be made in what you allow your child to watch, listen to, and play. The stakes in the choices are getting higher. Television and movies are more explicit today than even ten years ago. …

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Parenting

How a Mom Mafia Can Help You Protect Your Kids

Sharing information with friends about their children can be a rather tough thing for a mom. Many moms do not want to hear that their children are in trouble. With five teenagers, I have been on both sides of bad news, the giving and the receiving. I say the following with great urgency and concern: moms, swallow your pride and listen. If you don’t listen, you may close a door to future information that you need to know—information that could save your child from a troublesome situation, such as an abusive boyfriend or drugs. I know moms like this; they choose privacy and pride when what their children need is open and honest communication between parents that will deliver to them the protection of accountability. Instead, try to build a group of moms who stand together; at iMOM we jokingly call this the “Mom Mafia.” Here are some tips on starting your own Mom Mafia. 1. Build relationships with key informants. If you don’t have a social relationship or friendship with any of the parents of your kids’ friends, start one. It’s important to know these people well if your child is going to be hanging out in their homes and spending lots …

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Giveaways

Listen In, and Live Inspired

Whether you call me friend, mom, sister, acquaintance, boss or wife, you know that I love to chat. And the other day I had the pleasure of chatting with my new friend Tricia Goyer. We had a great conversation on planning, purpose, pondering–and what it means to be a passionate mom. Listen to the live podcast today at 3 CT, 4 EST! You could even win an autographed copy of The Passionate Mom! Listen in, and live inspired.

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Passionate Mom

3 Reasons To Grow Patience

Most moms struggle with patience. I am no exception and I boldly confessed that weakness in The Passionate Mom. I have studied, prayed and diligently tried to master patience. I have even turned to quotes from wise sages for inspiration as you can see below. If you struggle with patience too, you can consider this a leg up on your research. Feel free to copy my homework about why I need to grow patience. 1. Patience will make you wiser. “Patience is the companion of wisdom.” —Augustine

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Parenting

Building Patience

There are lots of reasons why a mom can lose her patience. I know because I lose mine all the time! I have learned through much failure that if I analyze why I lose it, I can take preventative action, overcome impatience, and exercise more patience. So here are the top five reasons why most I lose my patience, and five ways to build patience…

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Parenting

Love Your Child More by Pondering

This lesson is one that is an ongoing struggle for me. I am so easily distracted and over-committed that finding time to actually ponder requires super human restraint (and I have not yet found my super powers). Ponder is defined as: to think about something carefully, especially before making a decision or reaching a conclusion. As a mom I make decisions every day for my child–some big, some small. For the big decisions it is crucial that I ponder and pray before I conclude. This is the job of a passionate mom–to ponder everything she learns about her child so she can truly know her child. Do you add the bits of news and clues about your child’s life like puzzle pieces to your understanding so you can assemble a clear picture of what is going on in his or her life?

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Parenting

4 Ways To Add Depth To Your Perception Of Your Child

Summer is the best time of year to slow down and really take a good, long, loving look at your child, your relationship and their future. To do so you will need to immerse yourself in their world and figure out what is transpiring in their head as they process life. Here are four ways you can add depth to your perception of your child…

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Parenting

Learn to Love Your Child with Passion

If you are here because of our iMOM Operation Summer Lovin’ for Moms and Kids–Welcome! This week the Operation Summer lesson to learn is about being passionate about our kids. I was and am passionate about loving, protecting, nurturing, and training my children. But in one particular case, I missed an opportunity to use my passion to nurture and train because I was unperceptive about what I needed to be passionate about. It was one of my bigger perception misses. I have a child…

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Passionate Mom

The Passionate Mom T-shirt

The Passionate Mom T-shirt is a newly designed Bella + Canvas shirt. The fit is unisex, so it fits true to size or loosely. The tee is made of 50% poly, 25% combed and ring-spun cotton, and 25% rayon. If you are ordering internationally, then please contact me. Order here.

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Parenting

3 Questions to Ask to Find Your Purpose of Motherhood

I believe that visionary moms are guided by core values and a sense of purpose beyond just worldly success. Their deeply held core ideology gives their families a strong sense of identity and a thread of continuity that holds them together in the face of change and even trials and tribulations. If a mom wants to drive for progress in her parenting, she needs to know her purpose and how to hit that clearly defined target that she is shooting for. {Tweet} What is it that you want? What is your goal? Define it and you will have your purpose for parenting. {Tweet} To help us find our purpose, we need to answer these 3 questions: What are your core beliefs? What is your goal for your children? What is your purpose as a mother, and how will you work it to reach your goal? Every mom will answer these questions differently. And that is what makes life so exciting. We are all unique, with unique perspectives, unique children, and unique opportunities. My core values and goal are only examples for you. This is how I answered: 1. What are your core beliefs? My core belief is a belief in …

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