When my children were small I loved creating traditions for our family. I wanted them to have Markers and if I’m honest I wanted markers for myself as well. What are markers? Markers are the times we return to as we go from past to future. They are moments that build and edify a person up. Their value far exceeds the joy of when something is actually experienced because it becomes alive and can strengthen us. Even if the details aren’t remembered the truth of how we were loved comes back to us over and over again – like a warm hug.
I want to share a tradition my friend, Laura, does each new school year. Laura is busy – she is a wife, mother of 4 (3 pictured), works, goes to school and still finds time to make a cake to celebrate her sweeties. I’ve placed some ideas from my early days of motherhood below the picture – not for you to follow – because each of our lives our different. But I would encourage you to do a little brainstorming – and create some markers of your own. And one last thing – you’ll find a great giveaway for a yummy nutritious product called the Perfect Bar also. Go ahead and enter to win – open until August 22, 2014.
From Laura…
Hi Debbie, These cakes are a tradition I started about 7 years. Just for something fun to look forward to when the kids came home after the first day of school. This years idea came from a purple calculator my middle schooler got for school that she loved. The color didn’t turn out a very pretty purple but these cakes are definitely more about the memory than their perfection!
Debbie’s Ideas
1. When your children come home from school – turn off the computer, get off the phone and truly listen to what they have to say. When I was a young mom – someone told me you want to give your children a standing ovation when they get home – you can’t do that if you are distracted.
2. New pjs every Christmas. I was a stay at home mom who knew how to sew so each year I would take my two to the store and they would choose their fabric and I’d sew (thinking of them) new jammies to wear Christmas Eve night. (store bought work also)
3. Notes in lunch boxes or a treat with a special scripture waiting in their room for them. One time I was cleaning out my daughter’s lunch box and found over 50 of these notes. I offered to throw them away and she said not to because she wanted to keep them and see how many she could collect – scrapes of paper with a few words from my heart – lasting value.
4. A make your own pizza party – every year at Christmas time, my son invited 3-4 friends over and they would each create their own masterpiece. The table was always decorated with snowmen – he loved snowmen at the time.
If you liked this – you’ll probably like What Kind of Mom Your Kids Remember
Thanks, Laura, for sharing. I look forward to seeing what you come up with next year.
Please share your traditions in the comments – we are inspired by each other.
As promised – here is the information on the Giveaway… My 2 -year-old grandson loves these and so do I 🙂
http://theworkoutmama.com/2014/08/14/perfect-bar-review-giveaway/
