The Entitlement Trap

It's amazing to see the entitlement that has found it's way into our culture today. I am hoping to find ways to keep this quality OUT of my children and I am excitedly waiting the arrival of my pre-ordered book, The Entitlement Trap by Richard and Linda Eyre.

Help us get this book on the Best Seller List and pre-order your copy today!!

The Power of Moms is even hosting a contest and you could win tickets to their September retreat!! That is something you don't want to miss.

http://entitlementtrap.com/giveaway.htm

Happy Mother's Day - Power of Moms Style

In honor of Mother’s Day this year, I wanted to let you know about a great resource that I have been SO lucky to be working with. The Power of Moms, a website and “gathering place for deliberate mothers, ” is the “professional organization for moms who take motherhood seriously.”  They offer great resources to help moms take care of the person inside the mom while being the moms they really want to be.

Here are some of the wonderful things you can find and benefit from...

* Many (SO MANY) thought-provoking and practical articles they offer (there’s something new every day – often from some of my favorite bloggers and women I met at the Power of Moms Retreat in April).  

* I’ve also benefited from setting up my own Learning Circle (sort of like a book group, but we read and discuss an article on motherhood each month and have such a great time learning and laughing together). We still have a few open spaces in our group if you are local and interested in joining. I'd also be happy to help you set one up in your area.  

*They also have an amazing program that helps moms organize their time and tasks better called Mind Organization for Moms. I love the way it helps me clear my mind and be present when I'm doing family activities instead of worrying about all of the things on my to-do list. 

* The Bloom Game, where you get points for setting and accomplishing simple but meaningful goals each week.  Anyone want to play on my “Bloom Team” and compare points?  I've just started and really like it.

I know that as we all share the most helpful resources and ideas we can find about motherhood, we can help ease each other’s load and feel more joy and progression as mothers.  I hope you’ll enjoy the following little “gift” of links to some of my favorite articles on The Power of Moms.  Grab a favorite treat, put up your feet and read some of these suggestions! And if you are interested in more...click any of the Power of Moms link on the right side of my blog :)

Mommy is a Person

It’s Going to be Hard – and That’s OK

The Perfect Mom (Is There Any Such Thing?)

Organizing Tips to Match Your Style

HAPPY MOTHER’S  DAY!

Love, Chantol

Guest Post on Small Fry & Co.

I’m guest posting over at Small Fry & Co. today. Stop by and check it out. She has a lot of great ideas over there!

Thankful for Small Miracles

My hubby and I spent some time over the weekend deciding on our new systems of family chores and allowance. Mind you, our kids have always had chores and they have an allowance, we just hadn't tied them together in a consistent manner.

Well, with some amazing ideas from the Power of Moms Retreat I attended last weekend and some creative ideas of our own, we explained it all to the kids and told them that the new system would start today.

I am happy to report that morning chores, homework, and afternoon chores were all done without reminders BEFORE I got home from work! They are determined to get all of their responsibilities done so that they can get all of their pay. Now, I'm not guaranteeing that they will always get everything done without reminders, but it's nice to see that there is hope! I'll take it!

I can't wait to start teaching this system to other moms! Love it!

*** As a side note, if you haven't attended a Power of Moms Retreat yet, there is another amazing one in Park City, UT in May. It is well worth the trip! ***

Power of Moms Retreat

 

I had the chance to attend a Power of Moms Retreat in Park City, UT this past weekend. Saren and April did an amazing job putting the retreat together with many great speakers and Saren's wonderful parents, Richard and Linda Eyre, hosting the retreat in their home. To say the experience was great, is a complete understatement. 100 moms wanting to be more deliberate in their mothering, wanting to learn to “take care of the person inside the mom” and getting ideas on how to better raise children in the crazy, lazy, entitled world that we seem to find ourselves among. Those 100 moms represented 500 children! 500 little hearts and minds that will forever be better because their moms DELIBERATELY took the time to become better in their profession of motherhood.

(Saren and April, our fearless leaders for the weekend)

This retreat was far more than I had imagined it would be...and I have been wanting to attend one since I found the website.



Friday started with Mind Organization for Moms (M.O.M.), which is based on “Getting Things Done” (GTD) by David Allen. I had been using GTD for months when I found M.O.M. and was excited to see that it had been customized for moms. The presentation by April Perry was wonderful and will help so many moms clear their minds and simplify their lives so that they can be more “present” when they are with their family instead of having to always worry about what else needs to get done. ~ I highly recommend this program to all moms. I was organized before doing this program, but now my mind is organized as well and I don’t feel overwhelmed by the many projects I tackle. ~


This session was followed by a meeting of almost all of the women on the Board for Power of Moms, of which I am one of the newest members and completely thrilled to have been invited.


Saturday was the main retreat and covered a variety of topics like “Taking Care of the Person Inside the Mom”, “Effective Family Systems”, Values Parenting, and others. I have to say that I took pages and PAGES of notes (and a few pictures) and am so excited to put some of these great ideas in place with our family...hopefully helping to curb some of the issues we find ourselves faced with at this point in raising children.


I also attended the Train-the-Trainer session on Saturday evening to finish up my training and become a Certified Trainer for Power of Moms. I couldn't be more excited to work with other moms that want to become more organized and deliberate in their mothering.


In addition, I bought the book below, "A Mother's Book of Secrets" (written by Saren's mom and sister) and almost finished the entire thing on my flight home - A perfect way to end the retreat weekend.

(You can get it here.)

As a side note: The journey home was an adventure of it’s own and as I was spending my extra long day at the airport on flight standby, I shopped for mementos for my family. In that shopping search, I found something I knew my girls would love -- bright colored pencils with facts about the State of Utah...including the state flower - the Sego Lily. They were so excited about these pencils that had THEIR last name (Sego) on them. Granted, they already have the cute pencils with their first names on them, but these Sego Lily pencils had more meaning to them.


As I was searching for a magnet to add to my collection, I found two bumper stickers that summed up my weekend so well, that I HAD to get them.

~ All mothers are working mothers. ~

and

~ The best way to predict the future is to help create it. ~

That is what all of these mothers were doing at this retreat. Helping to create a better future by raising and leading the next generation.

Deliberate Mothering over at the Power of Moms

Are you a deliberate mother?

The last few months, I have been getting as involved as I can in Power of Moms (a gathering place for deliberate mothers). In fact, I've probably driven Saren and April (the wonderful women that started Power of Moms) crazy with all of my questions and my excitement to learn their programs and teach them to other DELIBERATE MOTHERS. I've been so thankful to be able to write articles and assist with editing a few projects for Power of Moms as well.

The biggest of my projects right now is becoming a certified Power of Moms Trainer. I am so excited to be attending a Premium Retreat in Utah in just a few weeks. I have been reading, stalking following blogs and working toward starting Power of Mom workshops and retreats in our area. The Learning Circle that I've already started has been awesome and I really enjoy the amazing moms that I get to talk to and learn from.

If you look to the right, you can see that I've got my blog all linked up so that you can find anything you're looking for over at Power of Moms. Stop on by and see what they have going on. There are Learning Circles, the Bloom Game, Mind Organization for Moms, Podcasts, and MUCH more!