Today marks the one year anniversary of this blog, and it also happens to be my birthday.
I started this blog as a challenge to myself to spend a few moments a day during an entire year engaging in a meaningful activity with my family, specifically to develop qualities of the heart. I shared a bit about how we’ve done that – including links to 365 activities – in this post. I chose to launch the blog on my birthday so I would be able to celebrate two milestones at once. I have been looking forward to this day for quite a while and am so excited it is here!
From this challenge and from general life during this last year, I have learned so much more than I anticipated or have been able to share. There just isn’t enough time to write about it…
Being a mother to my children, a wife to my husband, a friend, a sister, and a daughter has been such a blessing – and I am humbled to have had so many wonderful people in my life, helping me learn many lessons along the way.
This blog has also allowed me to go on a journey that I could not have otherwise imagined for myself, and for that I am truly grateful.
Thank you, thank you for being a part of it — for visiting, for reading, for commenting, and for sharing. Without you, there would be no community which makes this blog so special to me… your visits and your support make it possible for me to keep writing here. Believe me when I say: Thank you!
To celebrate this special day I wanted to do a service project to kick start my 30’s. However instead of a public project, I have chosen some specific acts of kindness to complete anonymously. I thought about sharing them on the blog but I have decided to keep the stories private so I do not compromise anyone’s privacy – and so I feel I can do what I want to do, without worrying about how to share it.
I would however like to offer a small gift to my readers:
Coupon
I have created a 30% discount for anyone who purchases any (or all) of my ebooks within the next two weeks. Simply use the coupon code BIRTHDAY30 while checking out before 5 June 2014.
If you are unfamiliar with how to use a coupon for my ebooks, just visit this page and select which ebooks you would like to “add to cart.” Then enter the coupon code in the checkout area (scroll down the page to find it), and check out via PayPal or by using a credit card. The discount should be automatically applied, and it will tell you how much has been discounted right above the checkout button. Once you make your purchase, you will be sent an email with the download link(s) within an hour.
Giveaway (ending 1 June 2014)
I’m giving away 10 copies of the three ebooks I have for sale (each winner will receive all three books):
How to Build Character at Home
Playing with Purpose: Character Building Made Fun
52 Acts of Kindness: A Family Scrapbook of Kindness in Every Season
To enter the competition, please share a comment below about your favourite resource/article here at Moments A Day and why. Feedback helps me determine what is most useful to my readers and also helps me decide what sort of articles to write in the future, so I will appreciate your comments very much!
You are welcome to tell me about an activity you tried with your children, or about how reading an article has influenced you to consider a new perspective. I would love to hear stories or specific examples of how implementing character education at home (as shared on my blog) has affected your life, in any way. Again – this feedback is very valuable to me, so I greatly appreciate the time you spend sharing some thoughts or experiences. Thank you.
Conditions of Entry
- The deadline for entry is 1 June 2014.
- The most moving, creative and/or inspiring answers will win, and will be chosen by a person unassociated with this blog.
- This competition is open to residents of all countries. Please leave a valid email address when you comment so you can be contacted.
- The ebooks will be transmitted via email in early June.
Thank you again for being here. I appreciate your presence and your feedback more than you know. I hope you enjoy what I have in store for the next year.
From the bottom of my heart,
Chelsea
I actually have 2 favorites. I love your post: 10 Tricks to turn a bad day around. It really helps me stop and think about why I stay at home and how blessed I am to be able to. It’s hard to have an invisible illness (Lupus) and be a SAHM and homeschool. I know it’s hard on my kids too. I have utilized all 10 tricks. In fact, I have them posted on my fridge! My children are my life and sometimes I forget that their time with me is fleeting by quickly. The other post I really love is: the follow up: Ideas For Connecting With Your Kids On A Hard Day: When It’s Dark, Find A Way To Sparkle. My kids and I especially like to turn on music and dance! They also request time to go in their rooms to calm down when they get too frustrated or upset. I’m now looking at implementing the positive attitude ideas and resources. Thank you, Chelsea, for helping me to be a better person, but especially a better mom!
To be honest, I can’t give you any feedback. I am brand new to this site. But, I was encouraged to check it out because I want to be a Mom that builds character in my kids, that spends time with my children in meaningful ways (not just a quick question of what they want to watch on tv), and to take care of myself as a Christian mother. I would love to win the books because I think they could really help me raise my children in a godly manner. I have three kids – 2 year old, 4 year old, and a 7 year old. We homeschool. 🙂
It was quite a while ago when I visited your site, but I’ve received your newsletter per Email for a while. I appreciate your willingness to encourage families to build character in their homes and help kids/families to be kind to others. It’s so important in this ‘selfie-centered’ culture to teach our children to look beyond themselves and into the lives of others.
By the way, I also just read your post about the 4.5km earlier in May – I kinda like that it was on Mother’s Day! 🙂
Our favorite has been the Mealtime Moments Activity Cards. It has led to lots of good conversations not only between us and our children but between my husband and I. I also greatly appreciate your “product” reviews (Affies4Kids, Sparkle Stories, etc).
I love the idea of creating hand crafts to make pledges and learn about responsibility… It’s very visual and easy to understand for children!
I also picked up on the mealtime moments activity cards.stopped me getting bored with non stop minecraft talk. Thank you
Yes Heather. That is what we felt too! Glad to hear we aren’t the only family battling that one 🙂
I came across your Facebook page and blog looking for ideas on how to encourage my toddlers to show kindness and grow in compassion and grace, as we develop as a family. You have some fantastic ideas and practical tips – but perhaps selfishly I have found your posts for mums most insightful. Showing love to myself in the midst of the busyness of motherhood often takes a backseat and it was freeing and reassuring to be reminded that it’s okay to guard my sleep or show myself some love. This also worked as a gentle reminder that my daughters learn through my actions and will value themselves more for who they are by watching me value myself more. In my desire to support and encourage my wee girls I have found support and encouragement for me as a woman, wife and mother – thank you!
Hello,
We have used the mealtime moments cards at our place. My son is only a year and a half so he doesn’t participate verbally yet. However my husband and I enjoy them and have great conversations as opposed to the usual how was your day? It was also fab over Xmas when we were holidaying with relatives we don’t get to see much too and provided great conversation starters.
Thank you 🙂
Gemma x
Loved the ideas in ‘Simple Homemade Gifts from Children’
I am a nanna . I enjoy reading your blogs and sharing them with my daughter.
She has just started writing about her days with her 3 wonderful little boys…
Mr. Me, Mr. Me Too and Mr. Me Now! Her stories can be found at…AtHomeToday.
As my children were growing up we too believed in home made gifts…now I love receiving them from my grandsons…mums these days are so creative.
Your blogs confirm what I believe is the greatest, most amazing thing a mum can experience….and that is seeing your own daughter being an incredibly capable, imaginative, creative loving mum herself.
Thank you for all your fabulous articles! We really enjoyed the random acts of kindness post and loved that it made us think of other people and how we could be a blessing to them. We thought that we could try doing a secret random act of kindness each day during the summer holidays for the people around us ~ even something as simple as picking up toys that someone else has been playing with or saying something nice to a sibling. We homeschool 3 little ones and it is so much more fun when we are all smiling and being kind to each other :o) Thank you xx
Recently made the decision concrete to HS our 4 & 5 y/o and am beyond the “can I do this” and on to the “I’m excited and look forward to enjoying as much as possible” mind set. The best part in my opinion will be learning through as many hands on activities as possible. Those are the types of posts I enjoy most. My newest best found technology is the voice over option on my apple devices that allows me to have an entire blog read allowed to me while I can still finish up dishes!!!
And books!
Well I love the blog and there is always lots of very useful information and fun, creative activity ideas. But for me this is the one that stands out the most. I really like the 30 cooperative games for preschoolers. I facilitate parenting workshops at our agency and the is a body movement game call “Animal Time”. It was my favorite because I used that game idea as an icebreaker in one of my workshops for parents and it was the best ever, having parents sit on the carpet in a circle and demonstrate in body movement and sound their favorite animal. The excitement of watching parents do it was great, not to mention the fact that they learned a new activity that they could take home to their young children. Learning to breathe was a big part of this activity as some of the parents made us laugh really hard. There is nothing greater than a room filled with Mommies laughter.
Hi! I am also new to this site but so far it’s been very inspirational! I am beginning to realize that character training needs to be done daily but also needs to be incorporated in our daily lives not just a “lesson” we teach and end. When I don’t use character training for a few days, I notice my children bickering and forgetting to be kind, loving, forgiving, and generous. We also homeschool so I love your ideas for incorporating literacy into teaching character. I am always looking for ways to get my first grader to write with a purpose. Thank you for your insight, ideas, and willingness to share this blog with us!
Chelsea, I get such positive energy from your site. I LOVED your post on patience this past April and I find myself pinning your stuff onto many of my boards. Thank you for your commitment to sharing and blessing us with goodness!
Barbara