Tracey Farmer
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Motivating Kids to Help During the Holidays
With a big birthday party coming up on Sunday, I realize I have a lot more to do tha I have time or energy for. The house needs a quick, but thorough cleaning, Christmas decorating needs to be completed, and baking and cooking tasks are piling up with each visit to Pinterest. Now, more than ever, I need both of my kids to step up and really help out. Background: Unfortunately, whenever this situation has come up in the past, they generally complain, argue with each other, don't do the job right, or forget altogether what they are even doing.
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12 Ideas for Holiday Fun with Friends and Family
With the constant worry about checking tasks off my very long to-do list, the holidays have become less than merry. Once I slowed down, I realized that not every goal that I set to be accomplished betwee Thanksgiving and the end of the year actually needed to be. Yes, a clean slate for the new year would have been nice, but the reality is that my family's happiness comes first. As a result, I readjusted my focus to "Holiday Fun with Family and Friends" and we came up with new ideas that are sure to bring smiles all around. Some of the ideas that we hope inspire are:
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Top Five Tips for the Holiday Office Party
Today is Day 6 of my "25 Days 'til Christmas Plan" and I'm merrily on my way to holiday bliss. With my husband's office party right around the corner, I started thinking about all of the funny things that have happened over the years at these events. Luckily, I have not been involved. Also, it says something about the people who were, if I still remember who did what, even years later. Somehow, I doubt they are still with the company. The office party, however, is a wonderful way to score points with the boss, while having a fun night out with colleagues and friends.
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Ways to Increase PTA Membership
Inspired Minute Note: The purpose of this article is to encourage you to share these ideas. It is not intended to be a solicitation. Many times I have heard from various Parent Teacher Association (PTA) leaders that while they deeply appreciate their volunteers, they greatly need membership dues to further their goals. They also want people to understand that joining the PTA does not require a time commitment. It involves paying a very small annual due to a community-based, non-profit organization that spends every penny to improve the lives of our children.
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Frame Your Important Reminders
Years ago I found and printed out the poem entitled, "I Wish." Since then, I have kept it with the important papers in my office that I review every Monday. Every time I read it, I get choked up all over again. Having a daughter in college, I know what it feels like to think that you just didn't get enough time. Last week I came across the poem, as usual, and read it twice.
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Resolution 1: Get in Shape
Every year I make a list of things that I would like to accomplish or improve upon, but as is the case for most people, I am not always successful. This year I needed to try something different. I notice that I have much more success when I am working on teaching my children something of value. The trick here, however, is to make sure that my children learn about these positive habits and accomplishments without attributing them to potentially destructive thoughts. For example, if I want to lose weight, I would not want to talk about dieting in front of them.
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Resolution 4: Strengthen My Relationship With My Spouse
Today I am moving into a new category of resolution: Strengthening Relationships. With an endless list of ways to strengthen the relationships that I have with my spouse, children and friends, I decided that I need to focus on only a few at a time to have a greater probability of success. I plan on working on 5 select strategies for each of my key relationships, until I have successfully accomplished each. Then, I will pick new ones to further develop and strengthen our bonds.
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Homework Log for the Frustrated Family
After many, many arguments and numerous updates from my son's school about grades less than 90, I decided to intervene and help alleviate some of the frustration that Ryan, his teachers and myself were feeling about his homework grades. Ryan is an extremely intelligent child who has just entered intermediate school. For his four core courses (Math, Science, Language Arts and Social Studies), he is taking honors classes. Coupled with art and band, his homework assignments and upcoming tests are a source of anxiety and tension.
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“Milestone” Birthday Gifts for Men
Yesterday, a friend asked me to help come up with unique gift ideas for her husband's upcoming "milestone" birthday. Now, I have to say that finding the right birthday gift for the important men in my life has always been a challenge for me. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to get a head start on birthday planning for this year, by pulling together a list of unique gift suggestions that will hopefully help her, myself and anyone else who struggles with the same dilemma.
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5 Tips to Get the Most out of Your Work Day
In this digital age, businesses are continuously evolving as technology rapidly transforms. What this means to you is that expectations for your work productivity are rapidly increasing, too. With all the professional and personal demands placed on us, it is more important now than ever, to get work goals and tasks accomplished while at work, so that personal goals can be achieved and chores can be completed at home.
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Resolution 6: Strengthen My Relationships With My Friends
As I finish up my series on strengthening relationships, I have chosen friendships as my final focus. While God and extended family clearly take precedence, I feel like friendships do not always get the proper attention that they deserve, since they fall a little further down on the list of priorities. However, if I focus strategically on each of my priorities, then my friends will be able to remain as close as family. It's important to note, however, that to me a friend is someone that is much more than a Facebook contact.
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Consequences and Resolution Behavior Modification
A couple of weeks ago a friend of mine "pinned" a fantastic idea that included a storage box of items that children had left out and the parent had to pick up. To get their items back, they had to choose a chore from an envelope and complete the task. I knew immediately that with a few changes and a bit of a different spin, this would be a great tool to help me with general behavior modification for my children. * The Idea: Using a see-through box, with a friendly note and a resolution log, I can "store" any items that have been confiscated, until amends have been made.
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