Are you up for a challenge?
Can you stop a bad habit cold turkey?
How about your kids–could they?
Thanksgiving is right around the corner. I love this holiday. It’s hands-down my favorite.
Why?
Because it’s all about family and food and maybe some football.
Nothing more than that.
I’ve learned it’s important NOT to add unrealistic expectations to the mix. Which means I don’t try and make any new recipes (My sour dough stuffing of 2008 was a HUGE mistake.) or Pinterest tablescapes. This day is nothing more than sitting around a turkey dinner and being grateful for my God-given blessings.
It’s the pleasure of simple joys, like a face to face conversation with someone I love.
Growing up, our holidays looked like this…food, family and conversations. It wasn’t a carnival of entertainment, but after almost fifty Thanksgiving meals filled with all sorts of things, it’s this meal I miss the most. This is the kind of holiday I want my kids to remember.
But, here’s the problem. Even with my miraculous, easy-going holiday expectations there’s still a card-sized-little-something that threatens to ruin my day quicker than a burnt pumpkin pie.
Cell phones.
I don’t know about you, but I’m sick of time together being interrupted by a jingle or a beep. I’m pretty over having a cellphone bully its way into every gathering. I’m tired of personal conversations interrupting text messages. Is there really anything that needs to be addressed immediately?
Unless you’re married to a heart surgeon, or cabinet member, or maybe have an elderly parent waiting for a kidney transplant, no one in your family is that important either.
And, if you have a child who has a cellphone–they aren’t even on the scale at all. There’s no reason this appendage should bully its way into your holiday festivities.
We Need to Teach Our Kids Something Different
While it might feel almost impossible to get adults to put down a phone, you can still politely ask. And, it’s not impossible to teach your children a different way.
That’s why I’ve created The Mean Mom Cellphone Challenge
For some of you this will be simple. But, for others, well, it will be a struggle right up there with the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
The harder the push-back from your child, the more you need to do this – cold turkey.
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”Mom, you’ re so mean!”
Do you struggle to instill loving boundaries and become discouraged when your child doesn’t like you for them? If so, you’re probably a “Marshmallow Mom” and there’s definitely hope for you.
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Joanne Kraft is the author of The Mean Mom’s Guide to Raising Great Kids.
Do you want to be a Mean Mom? It’s a better gig than you think. Joanne shares a little encouragement and ALOT of encouragement along this parenting journey. Enjoy your first cup of coffee with her on Saturday mornings. (PLUS, you’ll receive the first two chapters of The Mean Mom’s Guide FREE.
Wish I could. I have to at least bug my Mom in the morning to tell her that I love her, miss her and wish I was there celebrating in CA with them. I at least do that. But normally, my cell phone stays in my bedroom after that!
Heather, I think you still can. Just take the challenge AFTER you call your mom in the morning!