Monday Motivation Archives - The Joys of Boys

Monday Motivation: Mother’s Day Stories

May 6, 2013 By Kara Leave a Comment

Can you believe that this week marks 1 year that I started my blog? Well, maybe you can, but I can’t. That means 1 year of Monday Motivations (minus a few missed weeks when life got in the way).

Since Mother’s Day is this weekend I thought it would be fun to go back over the Monday Motivations from this past year and put some of the most popular posts about mothers together in one spot. To read these Mother’s Day stories, just click on the link or accompanying picture to take you to the post. I hope all of you mothers out there feel extra loved this week and realize what a great blessing it is to be a mom.

10 Motivational Mother’s Day Stories

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Monday Motivation: He’s Just a Little Boy

April 29, 2013 By Kara 8 Comments

It’s baseball season in my neck of the woods, which means we have been spending A LOT of time at the ball park.

With my two oldest playing, we are averaging 4 games/week plus practices on top. It can get crazy but baseball is my sport.

My boys play soccer and basketball at other times of the year as well and I love to watch them, but I basically grew up on the baseball (softball) field. I took my position on 3rd base pretty seriously and even though I ruined my right shoulder for life, and I can no longer play more than a few minutes of catch with my boys (and sometimes not even that), the thrill of the game comes back to me as I watch my boys play and at times, my competitiveness starts to come out.

But, I am definitely not the most competitive parent at the games. I’ve heard pretty much everything coming out of the mouths of some. Last week there was nearly an all-out brawl at a coach pitch game. COACH PITCH! We’re talking 7-9 year old kids who had to sit and watch the adults make fools out of themselves (yes I’ll say it like it is). These kids are little and excited to be playing and yet often, we parents take the fun out the game by taking things too seriously.

I came across this quote awhile ago and have saved it because I need this reminder every year when baseball season rolls around. And yes, I get a little emotional when I read it. I guess it really puts things into perspective.

He’s Just a Little Boy

I love sports and I think sports can be really beneficial for kids. And don’t get me wrong, I want my boys to be competitive in a healthy way. I want them to try their best and give it 100% but I also don’t want them to forget that in the end, it is just a game. You win some and you lose some. One of my first blog posts was last year at this time where I listed 20 Benefits of Kids playing sports. Our children can learn so much and make some great memories, but if we take the game too seriously and come down on them too hard, then it’s no longer fun. We just have to remember that “He’s just a little boy and not a man yet. “

Filed Under: Boys will be Boys, Just for Mom, Monday Motivation, Parenting Tagged With: boys and sports, Monday Motivation, sports

Monday Motivation: You Are Special

April 22, 2013 By Kara 10 Comments

You Are Special

I’ve been doing a bit of spring cleaning this past month and I came across this book, hiding on one of my bookshelves: You Are Special by Max Lucado. I received this book from one of my favorite teachers when I graduated high school and as I re-read the note he wrote me in the beginning as well as the rest of the book it brought back a lot of memories and made me want to read this book over and over again to my children. If there is one thing I want to be sure that they know, it is that they are special, regardless of what other people may say or do to them. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Just for Mom, Monday Motivation, Parenting Tagged With: Monday Motivation, parenting, Raising boys

Random Acts of Kindness

April 1, 2013 By Kara 6 Comments

We’ve all heard the term, “Random Acts of Violence”. It’s on the news nearly nightly. A few years ago I came across an article in the newspaper about how different our world would be if we started reporting “Random Acts of Kindness” instead and even more importantly, if we focused on doing random acts of kindness to other people. Today I was the recipient of an act of kindness and it brought that old newspaper article back into my mind. And even though it was a simple gesture, it made my day.

I got up early today so I could run and do some major, MAJOR grocery shopping while my husband was still home with the kids. Since we’ve been on Spring Break for the past week and have been traveling and out of town, our house shelves were bare. I cleaned out everything in the fridge before we left so I wouldn’t have old food to deal with when we got back.

So, I’ll admit that I was one of “those” people who spends hours or more in the store loading up the cart to nearly overflowing so that I won’t have to go shopping again for awhile. I was one of “those” people who really should have made a couple of trips to the car but was determined to fit everything in to one cart. But I’m also one of “those” people who other people don’t like to stand behind in line at a store. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Just for Mom, Monday Motivation Tagged With: inspirational quotes, Monday Motivation, motivation for moms

Finding the Mother in Me

March 26, 2013 By Kara Leave a Comment

I remember the day as if it were yesterday. I was terrified, confused, terrified, anxious, terrified, overwhelmed, terrified, exhausted, and did I mention TERRIFIED? I remember sitting and crying and wondering “what now?” But wasn’t this supposed to be one of the happiest days of my life? Why weren’t my tears actually tears of joy? I had just brought a beautiful, perfect baby boy home from the hospital, something I had always wanted to do, so why wasn’t I excited? I didn’t feel like a mother and I was worried that I would have a hard time finding the mother in me. [Read more...]