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distance learning

Distance Learning Students – you nailed it and we are so proud

(Inside: Distance learning can be hard. But, students who moved to online school during this pandemic, you nailed distance learning, and here’s why.)

To Our Kids, 

We want to talk to you about eLearning. Not to criticize, but instead, to tell you – we see you. 

We know this eLearning thing has taken some getting used to. This “break” from school isn’t what you’re familiar with – spring break, winter break, Memorial Day weekend. 

In it all, we see you. 

We see you getting up when you’d rather sleep in to go after your eLearning. We see you clicking all over the Schoology, Google Classroom, and Seesaw sites trying to find where all the information is. We see you adjusting to all of your teachers organizing their classes in different ways. 

We see you watching videos and taking notes and googling “hyperbole in poetry” so that you can put your assignment together and submit it. We see you learning to teach yourself. 

We see you figuring out how to organize your day to best set yourself up for success. We see you bounce from the couch to the kitchen table to your bedroom, figuring out WHERE you learn best. We see you trying out different times of day, figuring out WHEN you learn best. We see you cranking through all of the material; then at a different time, taking lots of breaks, figuring out HOW you learn best. 

And when you get behind and there are conflicts between us about it, know we still see you – we know this has all been unsettling and motivation sometimes is hard to find. But we see you go back to eLearning and catching up despite your big feelings. 

Also, we feel your disappointment.

Spring musicals, sports, clubs, end-of-the-school-year celebrations, prom, awards nights, graduation – we know you’ve forever anticipated those activities and milestones. We also know you miss your friends, your teachers, and the energy of the school building.  Even though people tell you there’s so much to be grateful for (there is!), it’s okay to be disappointed and grieve the loss of important things in your lives. We feel the letdown.

family at dinner table
Connect with your family over these 400+ conversation starters. Grab them here.

In watching you navigate distance learning and this experience; we want you to know – we’re proud of you. 

Oh, my all-the-stars…We. Are. Proud. Of. You. 

You’re figuring it out. 

You’re learning to find your voice as you reach out to your teachers for help and direction. 

You’re learning so much about yourself, about self-discipline, and about how to steer your own ship. 

You’re learning to handle technology like a boss and that will serve you well in your future careers. 

You’re figuring out how to keep going through loss and how to focus on the silver linings. 

You’re spamming the perseverance button, and we are so proud. 

Good job, eLearners. Good job to our beloved warrior kids. 

We’re proud of you. 

Love, All Moms Everywhere 

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7 Powerful Reasons to Pray as a Family

 

 

Connect with your family over these 400+ conversation starters. Grab them here.

Join this community of moms raising tweens and teens

You just dropped one kid off at practice, picked up another, and are trying to decide what to make for dinner. Your days are filled with work, parenting, and waiting for password reset emails.

You are parenting tweens and teens.

It’s an amazing life phase, but also challenging in unique ways. In it all, you’d love a little encouragement to help you laugh, grow in faith, see parenting hacks, get ideas to connect with your kid, and celebrate the awesome momma you are. 

I got you, friend. Sign up for Empowered Moms and Kids monthly emails and get encouragement in your inbox geared for someone exactly in your life chapter. It’s totally free and you can unsubscribe at any time. 

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gifts for moms
coronavirus kids

The Pandemic is Shaping Kids in These 6 Powerful Ways

(Inside: The coronavirus and kids – this is what your children are learning. I hope this pandemic shapes my kids in these six powerful ways.)

I saw a meme that said something like this: This coronavirus pandemic is going to be our kids’ we-walked-uphill-both-ways-during-rain-to-school story they tell their kids.

I disagree.

I think this moment is bigger than that.

Never before have historic events unfolded in this way – we are living what will be discussed in future history classes.

A Century of Experience

“How are you?” I asked my 98.5yo grandma. Her voice came through my phone, “Not only are visitors not allowed at our assisted living facility but we are all quarantined in our room. The staff told me a lot of people are feeling depressed.”

A pregnant pause filled the airwaves.

But my grandma continued, “However…I’m watching on the news how everyone is working so well together to combat this virus…”

She went on to highlight the silver linings of this pandemic: companies switching gears to make medical supplies, everyday heroes working overtime (grocery stores, truck drivers), medical staff being brilliant, community leaders making smart decisions…

“Think of how this is making us stronger,” she mused.

I love my grandma’s ability to focus on what’s going right. I love her grit, energy and growth mindset.

My grandma is one of the most amazing people I know. She rode horseback to a one-room school in rural North Dakota. (I’ll see your walk-both-ways-uphill and raise you a horse.) She married my grandfather and then said pretty much immediately goodbye as he left for WWII. She’s started a business, raised three kids, and nursed my ill grandfather until he passed away leaving her widowed at a relatively young age. My grandma’s seen beauty rise from ashes over and over again in her almost-a-century-long life.

 

Six powerful ways our kids are being shaped by the coronavirus

“Yes, this is making us stronger” is what I thought about long after we hung up. As these safer-at-home days flip past, I’m noticing the good ways in which this pandemic is transforming us all. I’m specifically noticing these six powerful ways that it’s shaping my kids and I hope these lessons stick:

kids and coronavirus
Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash

Joy is found in the simple

My sons jumped on the tramp while I shot pictures. Big laughs. Hearts full. Yes, Disney and sandy beaches are special, but a secret to an amazing life is to notice the sunshine, the trees, and each other. We’ve had so many moments like this one. I hope my kids always pause to embrace life’s simple, soul-filling joys.

Related article: 146+ Best Chapter Books for Tweens that will also Build Character

Everyone has a civic duty to their community

The only way for us to be victorious in this experience is to work together. Everyone needs to social distance. The essential workers need to go to work; quality daycare needs to be provided. The WWII generation acutely understood civic duty, and now our kids are experiencing that they too are important members of society.

Be kind to family

We’re stuck together for weeks on end, so my family is responsible for creating the atmosphere they want to live in. Give grace, speak kindly, and – if you love your mom at all – pick up after yourself. I hope this quarantine is teaching my kids to love their family well.

Eat yo’ crust

My son said to me, “I’m still hungry.” I looked at the two giant pieces of pizza crust and said, “Finish your food.” I wasn’t going to the store anytime soon and he knew it. I hope my kids are learning to see food as a little more sacred and eat their crusts.

Related article: Best Home Exercises for QuaranTEENS and TWEENS

When in doubt, pray

I’ve lost sleep over this thought: how can a virus bring our entire world to its knees? I don’t know what else to do, so I pray. Often. And through it I feel God nurture me, comfort me, and change my perspective. I hope my kids learn that when in doubt, look up – God will find them.

To be thankful

But most of all, when this veil is lifted, I hope my kids learn to not take things for granted. They GET to spend their days at awesome schools. They GET to gather in church with our faith family. They GET to play sports with parents and grandparents cheering them all. I hope my kids walk away from this experience with more gratitude pulsing through their hearts.

Through this experience, I hope my kids are shaped into stronger, wiser people. I hope they become a little more like their beloved and amazing great-grandma.

Join this community of moms of older kids

You just dropped one kid off at practice, picked up another, and are trying to decide what to make for dinner. Your days are filled with work, parenting, and waiting for password reset emails.

You are parenting tweens and teens.

It’s an amazing life phase, but also challenging in unique ways. In it all, you’d love a little encouragement to help you laugh, grow in faith, see parenting hacks, get ideas to connect with your kid, and celebrate the awesome momma you are. 

I got you, friend. Sign up for Empowered Moms and Kids monthly emails and get encouragement in your inbox geared for someone exactly in your life chapter. It’s totally free and you can unsubscribe at any time. 

Plus, you’ll get instant access to all the great resources in the freebie library. Join our community here or below. 

gifts for moms

Want more parenting stories and resources?

AWESOME BOOKLISTS
Book Ideas for High School Teenagers

Book Ideas for Middle School Tweens

Inspirational Books Ideas for Moms

GIFT IDEAS
Gift ideas for Moms of Tweens and Teens (Great for Mother’s Day!)

Gift Ideas for Teenage Boys

Gift Ideas for Teenage Girls

SCHOOL
Teen, These Big Reasons are Why You’ll Like Trying Hard in School (And, no, it’s not about grades.)

FAMILY CONNECTION IDEAS
Connect as a Family Over These Conversation Starters

GROW TOGETHER IN FAITH
7 Powerful Reasons to Pray as a Family

kids and coronavirus
Photo by Yanapi Senaud on Unsplash
hope in corona virus

Everything’s been canceled – but love hasn’t…

(Inside: Finding hope in the coronavirus crisis. Everything’s been canceled – but love hasn’t… Read on… Read on…)

Last week was a bit much.

This coronavirus situation crescendo-ing, calming my high school students, taking care of my own kids, worrying about my in-laws traveling, stressing about my fragile 98.5yo grandma, the empty store shelves, scary articles…the whole crazy-full-moon-Friday-the-13th week did me in. But I didn’t realize how stressed I was until I finally sat down on Friday to process it all.

Wednesday we were laughing at the Corona Virus memes; then Thursday we were bathing in hand sanitizer and rushing to the stores.

I held out my hand to see if I was as shaky on the outside as I was on the inside. Stress reigned.

However, as my weekend unfolded…as it most often does…

Hope appeared…

You know that cup analogy that’s been told numerous times, several different ways? It’s the one where a person is holding a cup and she gets bumped. If what’s in the cup is peach iced tea, sweetness slides down the cup leaving her with sticky fingers. If sparkling water is in the cup, then when bumped, bubbles spill over the rim splashing onto the floor. What’s inside the cup is what comes out.

We’ve all been bumped this week.

However, do you know what I’ve seen spill out?

Wednesday we were laughing at the coronavirus memes; then Thursday we were bathing in hand sanitizer and rushing to the stores.

I held out my hand to see if I was as shaky on the outside as I was on the inside. Stress reigned.

However, as my weekend unfolded…as it most often does…

Hope appeared…

You know that cup analogy that’s been told numerous times, in several different ways? It’s the one where a person is holding a cup and she gets bumped. If what’s in the cup is peach iced tea, sweetness slides down the cup leaving her with sticky fingers. If sparkling water is in the cup, then when bumped, bubbles spill over the rim splashing onto the floor. What’s inside the cup is what comes out.

We’ve all been bumped this week.

However, do you know what I’ve seen spill out?

Photo by Thom Holmes on Unsplash

People shopping for their parents, their grandparents, those in need, so we can keep our most vulnerable at home.

Moms reaching out to working families to see if they can babysit their kids.

Women sharing inspirational stories, encouraging each other.

People buying gifts cards to local businesses to keep them afloat while we all wait out this storm.

Grocery store workers being patient with the masses and tirelessly restocking shelves.

Amazing people working overtime (often for free) to prepare for the worst-case scenarios: community planners, decision-makers, hospitals, cleaning staff, school districts, non-profit organizations…etc.

My sons helping me deep clean our home without complaint.

Healthcare professionals still going to work. (They are the biggest heroes in this story.)

Communities organizing free daycare at the local community center.

Teachers working behind the scenes to transfer their curriculum online because for right now schools are just canceled, but we all want to be ready to provide quality educational experiences if we continue to stay home.

Organizations mobilizing to provide extra food to those in need.

family at dinner table
Find hope in the coronavirus stay-at-home season. Connect with your family over these 400+ conversation starters. Grab them here.

Ordinary people donating without hesitation.

And – I’m not even joking here – a friend told me a manufacturing plant in her hometown sent out approximately 250 semi-trucks of toilet paper instead of the 100 normal trucks. (It’s coming everyone. Toilet. Paper. Is. Coming.)

Our cups have been bumped and do you know what’s spilled out?

Love.

Everything else has been canceled.

But apparently – love hasn’t.

Love is never canceled.

Keep on being amazing, everyone. This isn’t going to be easy. We’ve never journeyed this road before. But, we’ll get through this. Together.

Join this community of moms raising older kids…

You just dropped one kid off at practice, picked up another, and are trying to decide what to make for dinner. Your days are filled with work, parenting, and waiting for password reset emails.

You are parenting tweens and teens.

It’s an amazing life phase, but also challenging in unique ways. In it all, you’d love a little encouragement to help you laugh, grow in faith, see parenting hacks, get ideas to connect with your kid, and celebrate the awesome momma you are. 

I got you, friend. Sign up for Empowered Moms and Kids monthly emails and get encouragement in your inbox geared for someone exactly in your life chapter. It’s totally free and you can unsubscribe at any time. 

Plus, you’ll get instant access to all the great resources in the freebie library. Join our community here or below. 

Want more parenting stories and resources?

AWESOME BOOKLISTS
Book Ideas for High School Teenagers

Book Ideas for Middle School Tweens

Inspirational Books Ideas for Moms

GIFT IDEAS
Gift ideas for Moms of Tweens and Teens (Great for Mother’s Day!)

Gift Ideas for Teenage Boys

Gift Ideas for Teenage Girls

SCHOOL
Teen, These Big Reasons are Why You’ll Like Trying Hard in School (And, no, it’s not about grades.)

FAMILY CONNECTION IDEAS
Connect as a Family Over These Conversation Starters

hope coronavirus moms
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
Hand sanitizer: Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash