I think as women, as mothers, when we are in the thick of everyday life we tend to forget there are others who are going through the same thing or have already gone through this stage of life. Or we are wishing we could connect with others to bounce ideas off of each other. There is so much we can learn and gain from one another!
I’m creating a weekly series that will be all about parenting, homemaking, family rules, motherhood – basically anything and everything about running a home. But it won’t just be a series where I preach to you about what should be done. Rather it will be a series to share with each other our ideas, offer suggestions and advice, and discuss with one another various ways to help each other along this motherhood road. There will be guest posts, link-up opportunities to share your own blog posts, and hopefully a lot of good ol’ woman to woman, friend to friend encouraging advice and communication.
Last week I asked for name suggestions for this weekly series. I have compiled a list of my favorites from the comments. After I explain why I chose each one I’d like for you to vote on your favorite name for the series using the poll embedded in the post.
Everyone’s Two Cents {suggested by Meg} We all have something to contribute and share, advice we can give, advice we can take. I want this to be a place where all opinions are valued and valuable.
Over the Back Fence {suggested by Becky} Brings back those by-gone years where women discussed things over the back fence as they hung up their laundry or worked in their gardens. It suggests friendliness.
The Domestic Dollop {suggested by Los Industriosos} Aside from the fact that I love alliteration, I like how this name implies that we will be discussing all things in the domestic realm but it will be done in manageable dollops {like a dollop of whipped cream on top of your cocoa!} that we can tackle together.
Family Matters {suggested by An Ordinary Mom} I like this because it can be read two ways, both of which apply to our series. 1) Family matters. Our families matter to us. Families are important. They are vital and crucial to a good society. 2) Family matters. We will be discussing questions and concerns (the matters) we have about our families.
Establish a House – In our home right now we are focusing on the scripture from Doctrine & Covenants that reads: “Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God;” I even painted a canvas to hang in our home to remind us of what we are trying to achieve {which I’ll show in another post}. It is from this scripture that the phrase “Establish a House” is taken.
Now that I’ve shared what I like about each name, make your voice heard and vote.
Did you vote? Good!
Before you go, I’d like to know what topics you would like to discuss as part of this series. It can be anything from potty-training to teenage dating, laundry to family traditions. Do you know someone with experience in a certain area who would be willing to do a guest post? Would you like to do one? Let me know in the comments so I can start planning out the next few weeks of posts.
Here are the links to the two posts we’ve already done.
Using Tablecloths at Meal Times
Controlling Media Use in our Homes
I would enjoy hearing about alternatives to media for wholesome recreational activities, and ideas for getting our families to eat dinner together and how to foster good conversation and fun during said dinner….
I would enjoy guest posting, too. It sounds like fun, and while I am mostly confined to a quiet room, writing is one of the few things I CAN do! 🙂
I would love to hear about how others balance and manage chores for their kids. We have always had the kids doing chores, but I’m always wondering what the right balance is of having them help around the house (to learn responsibility and be a contributing member of the family), but also letting them be kids.
MMMMM….. I’m not sure what I would like to talk about….anything domestic I am up for and open to. And I would love to do a guest posting sometime. I have lots of boys (8)…so girl advice is not exactly up my alley. But thankfully, most motherhood characteristics apply to both genders, there are a few though… Communication, teaching children doctrine/morals, that seems to be a strength. (How to organize your temporal house…not so much 🙂
The ideas so far have been good! I would love to learn. I would like to learn about home treatments for minor illnesses, how to know when to take a kid to the doctor or just “wait and watch”, even how to care for bee stings or simple things like that. I want to be more knowledgeable so I don’t have to rely on doctors when it is something I can do myself.
Cocoa, my daughter is about to graduate as a nurse…I bet I could get her to do a guest post on home first aid and when to know if a doctor is needed. She comes from a family who believes in herbal remedies too, so she is very judicious in calling for a doctor. 🙂
That would be awesome, Misty! We might end up having to do a whole month on Treating illnesses, first aid, etc. There’s a lot of information to cover.
I would love to hear some suggestions on reading material relating to church doctrine/motherhood and rejoicing in it. What do Mom’s read in their spare time (*giggle* who has that?!) to help them grow in spirituality. I am running low on my books and would love to have a stock of more of them…
I would also like to hear about teaching boys specifically (because that is what I have) and helping them gain the maturity and spirituality that they need.
I would also not mind doing a guest post for you. I enjoy writing (even if I am not superb at it) and enjoy homemaking topics.
I’d love to have a discussion about balancing spiritual growth with pop culture growth. And maybe pop culture isn’t the right term. As our boys are working through the teen years, I am seeing a need to balance their abilities to co-exist with their peers while maintaining their sense of spirituality. That’s not to say the two don’t often coincide, because they do, but the reality is that our children experience life outside of our sweet, safe little haven. They need to be prepared.
Other ideas include curfews, phone/ texting guidelines, fiscal responsibility, and sibling rivalry.
You know I am always willing to give an opinion or do a write up! When don’t I like to talk?
I’d like to hear about women who only have young children at home and how you survive those years when hardly anyone is old enough to be a real help around the house.
Another topic would be how to handle money. What do you pay your kids for? How do they earn money and learn to use it properly?
I voted. 🙂 Looking forward to the series! And I’d be glad to help out any time you might like… topics on real food, home organization in TINY spaces, raising self-reliant people, chickens…
I’m looking forward to this series! It’s been fun so far to read your ideas and all the discussion that follows. One topic I just thought of is how we can better support our husbands. Mine was just called as the Bishop in our ward and I’ve been thinking of you and wishing I could pick your brain! I have decided I don’t like the title “Bishop’s Widow.” I feel like I (and my kids) are serving too, not sitting idly by lamenting his absence!
Anytime you want to talk or ask some questions about being the Bishop’s wife feel free to e-mail me at chocolateonmycranium {at} live {dot} com.
I would like to hear how to have patience with kids in the kitchen (I always feel rushed while cooking), spring cleaning, cultivating cheerfulness in the home, when do younger children get new clothes (not just hand-me-downs), how to stick to and enforce bedtimes (especially for homeschoolers), how to help children have friends – but at the same time not copy behaviors of friends, birthday traditions… I can’t wait to see your “Establish a house” canvas.
I would like to know about anything and everything!!! I am willing to guest post. I would say my biggest areas of specialty are organizing a homeschool day, curriculum reviews of things I have used, and teaching piano to your children.
Oh, I could also post about homeschooling with toddlers, favorite family recipes, and family traditions.
I don’t usually comment on your site, but I read it faithfully! I am excited over this new idea you have and am trying not to feel foolish for writing what I would like to see/reads about…
no matter how hard I try I just can’t seem to teach my children that chores are necessary and okay to do/have. insight please!
also, how do you teach them to respect each other and their items?
and one more. how do you teach them to be reverent during sacrament meeting? that they do NOT need to bring anything to church besides their scriptures and a small notebook to take notes. I am dying here. I have tried so many things, but there has got to be something that I haven’t tried for each of these.
I would LOVE someone to whisper words of wisdom over my back fence over these topics.
I just thought of one more discussion topic that I have been pondering: How do you let older kids play with toys with small pieces (LEGO for example) and at the same time keep them out of reach and out of mouths of the babies and toddlers?
How do you balance everything in life? I’m still trying to figure that one out!
Love that you will be doing this series! I would benefit from discussions on teaching children respect, reverence during Sacrament meeting, and I would love to hear how other mothers discipline their children when they are mistreating one another in such a way as to teach them kindness, respect and love for one another and help them find more Christlike ways to work out their differences with others. Thank you!
I’m really looking forward to this series, even if our children have all “left the nest” and are mostly on their own. Young adults still need their parents! I would also love ideas on how to stay involved as a grandmother of young children (our oldest grandchild is two) when they live thousands of miles away. And since I’m pretty pleased with the way they’ve turned out, I’d be happy to share some of the things we tried that were successful (and maybe even some of the things that weren’t) – things like chores and dishes and phantom money and birthday gifts/parties, the evolution of family devotions, Scouting and Personal Progress, working with the public school system, and really just anything to help our family want to be together eternally. Our kids are each other’s best friends and I can think of few things more heart-warming than that.
I am excited about this new series. I would have never thought much about using a table cloth but thanks to your insight I have been using the one we have regularly and I love not having to chisel out so much food from my table. I can just shake and wash.
as someone else already suggested I would like to know how to teach my kids to make friends. We just moved quite aways from “home” and are not near any family. Also I have a very gifted son academically. His last teacher was able to adjust his curriculum accordingly, but since moving he has a new teacher who is trying to adjust but she is not as experienced in this area so any insight form any one else would be very helpful. I think this may be something we deal with for many years to come!
Thanks for your blog. I have gained so much from it.
I really like all the suggestions. It was hard to just vote for one. Since it is the stage I am in right now, I would love to hear any good ideas for sleep training babies, especially no cry solutions.
“Over the Back Fence” was my favorite. I thought you might like this quote on homemaking: http://megsstudylog.blogspot.com/2013/02/cs-lewis-on-homemaking.html
I would love to read about keeping teenage girls interested in the gospel. I live in LDS Land where it is way more cool to be rebellious than righteous. I would love to hear from some of your girls if they are up for the challenge. I think my girls would like it too!
I am excited for this new series as well and would love to be considered as a guest post-er. Thank you for posting things that make us better people.