When I was diagnosed with cervical cancer several years ago, I questioned what I would want to hand down to my four young children if that disease were to take my life.

Fortunately, I returned to full health and with a deeper appreciation for the importance of leaving a legacy while I’m alive and able. I developed my legacy keepsake product line because of that experience.

Moms must take the time to capture the memories and moments of motherhood through the years.

How to Create Meaningful Mementos to Hand Down to Our Kids

Let’s take a deeper look at these three meaningful mementos that we can hand down to our kids.

The 100 Questions for Mom journal helps moms of all ages and stages intentionally record the many moments of their lives and legacies. After all, our wisdom can only be treasured by future generations if we take the time to share our stories.

1. 100 Questions for Mom Journal
100-Questions-For-Mom-Journal-Amy-Carney

The 100 Questions for Mom journal helps moms of all ages and stages intentionally record the
many moments of their lives and legacies. After all, our wisdom can only be treasured by future
generations if we take the time to share our stories.

This guided journal, created for mothers and grandmothers, is full of thoughtful prompts that
encourage you to record your stories. Insightful questions are on every page, from childhood
memories to reflections on your hopes for the future.

2. You are Loved 7×7 Keepsake Album
You-Are-Loved-Red-Keepsake-Book

We love to post our precious digital photos on social media sites’ walls, but what if we compiled
printed pictures of memories with Mom into an archival keepsake book instead.

Mother’s Day gives us a perfect excuse to gather our printed photos and preserve them in this little album letting Mom know how much she is loved. Compile pictures of mom and her loved ones in a You Are Loved keepsake book along with some handwritten notes, and you’ll have the perfect Mother’s Day gift that will live on well beyond this May.

Or give it to mom blank, and each year she can add a photo of her with her children to the album creating a Mother’s Day treasure. Buy my You Are Loved album in black or red HERE.

READ How To Create A Meaningful Keepsake for Your Child

3. The Cherished Childhood Keepsake Kit
Cherished-childhood-keepsake-kit

Grandma and Mom handed me down some of my clothes, blankets, and dolls from my childhood. Unfortunately, they mean little to me because I don’t know anything about the material items I have in my possession.

Where did I wear this matching dress and booties?
Who crocheted this baby blanket for me? Did I actually play with this doll?

Without the stories attached to these items I keep in a box in my closet, they mean very little. I realized that I wanted to bring more meaning to the collection of childhood items I’ve been saving to hand down to my sons and daughter.

I created The Cherished Childhood Keepsake Kit to help moms quickly turn childhood’s bin of stuff into a treasure box of meaningful mementos instead of just meaningless stuff that we felt was important to save.

This Mother’s Day and beyond, consider purchasing a gift for Mom that will help her showcase the stories and memories that have made up her life.

100-Questions-For-Mom-Journal-Amy-Carney

One ordinary afternoon, as my aunt and I, were leisurely shopping at a Phoenix strip mall, I received a call on my cell phone from an unknown number. Since I was in a good mood, I went ahead and answered it, oblivious to the life-changing truth I was about to hear.

It wasn’t the random sales call I thought it would be; instead, it was the nurse from my gynecologist’s office letting me know that my recent appointment results were not good. The tests had detected cervical cancer, and it was at a stage that would require an immediate hysterectomy.

One minute, I was leisurely searching for healthy snacks for my kids’ school lunches, and the next minute I was preparing for surgery. How could this be possible?

Because this is life, and anything is possible.

Those next few minutes, weeks, and months were a blur. Me? Cancer? I had always been a healthy person overall, so being told in 2011 that I had cancer came as quite a shock.

During this unsettling period, I pondered if I had prepared the keepsakes and mementos that I wanted to leave behind for my children if this disease were to take my life.

Our lives can and might change in an instant.

I had saved various material items for my children but I had not taken the time to write out important moments and memories from my life. I want my children and future grandchildren to know who I was before I was a mom and who I’ve become since. 

Because of this, I created a new journal- 100 Questions for Mom– to help all of us, moms, easily tell the stories that have made up our lives. I want to slow down today while I am healthy and take the time to write about my life and what I’ve experienced.

We must take the time to write out the stories of our lives while we are healthy and able.

The memories we share with loved ones are an invaluable treasure. My guided journal, created just for mothers and grandmothers, is full of thoughtful writing prompts that encourage you to record your stories. When you have put your memories to paper, this precious memoir can be passed down to your children and cherished for generations to come.

100-Questions-For-Mom-Journal-Amy-Carney

Your Handwriting Matters

Who doesn’t recognize their mother or grandmother’s handwriting when they see it?

Unfortunately, our precious handwriting may not be as familiar to our children as it has always been in past generations, thanks to the digital world we are living in.

I created this journal as a way for busy moms to write out their thoughts and stories turning this guided journal into a priceless treasure.

Who wouldn’t love a journal full of handwritten memories and stories from their grandmother or mother?

100-Questions-for-Mom-Amy-Carney

Insightful questions on every page invite you to delve into topics both lighthearted and momentous. You’ll explore recollections of your childhood, the wisdom of motherhood, and your hopes for the future. With short questions and plenty of space to write your answers, it’s easy to capture the moments that have shaped your life.

Share your story with my 100 Questions for Mom Journal that is:

  • In your own words―Explore deep, thought-provoking topics or share funny anecdotes in a Q&A format that lets you use your unique voice.
  • Practical and elegant―A classic design and roomy lined pages make this guided journal a joy to use and a delight to read when you’re done.
  • For mothers of all kinds―Share your experiences and one-of-a-kind perspective through open-ended questions that suit any age and family structure.

Learn more about creating your legacy with this simple guided mom journal or pre-order it HERE.

Family-digital-device-holder

We know that digital devices and screens separate us in our homes more often than they bring us together. This holiday season why not set your family up for success by intentionally investing in products and tools to help you connect to one another rather than tear you further apart?

Fortnite and TikTok may not exactly be furthering our family goals, so let’s purposely purchase things that will actually be beneficial to our family heading into the new year.

Here are 7 items worth gifting your family to bring you closer this year and beyond!

1. Unplug Digital Device Holder

Unplug-box-for-digital-devices

What I love about Cade and Birch’s Unplug device holders is that they provide us with an intentional place for our screens to live overnight or whenever we want our homes to be screen-free.

Having an intentional (and beautiful) place to store our devices in our home helps our family members routinely unplug. 

Unplug-Technology-Family-Device-Holder

2. Conversation Starters

Togather-Conversation-Starter-Books

In my recent interview on The Boy Mom Podcast, Author Monica Swanson asked me what my favorite product for moms of boys was, and I said “conversation starters” with my current favorite being Togather’s unique sticker gamebooks.

Drivealogue-Family-Communication-Parenting-Tool

Another favorite is Drivealogue because these cards uniquely touch on tougher, yet vital, social conversations and are meant to use in the car while driving your sons and daughters to and fro. These conversation starter packs come in 3 different sets depending on the age of your kids.

3. Invest in a Local Adventure

Changing up our scenery throughout this pandemic has been life-giving to our family. We may not be able to travel far from home right now, but there is definitely a nearby adventure where your family can go refuel, while also supporting a local business during this hard time.

The-Strawberry-Inn-Arizona-Family-Fun

Two of our favorite getaways in Arizona are The Strawberry Inn and The Circle Pines KOA campground in Williams. We like to go where we can spend time quality time outdoors and reconnect as a family.

4.  My Parent on Purpose Printable Packs

I created some printable resources to help parents make a plan to raise their children with more confidence, joy, and purpose, despite the challenging circumstances we may be living in! We can’t afford to just wing it when parenting our kids in today’s complicated culture. My products are designed to give you ideas and tangible resources to strengthen yourself, your family, and your kids!

5. Fun Family Games

Left, Center, Right is a staple in our family. Most every holiday, and when we are traveling, we play this simple dice game with whoever is joining us. Forget the chips it comes with and use pennies or quarters to make it more exciting.

Left-Center-Right-Family-Game

My Parent on Purpose Amazon store features several fun family games and products that we enjoy!

6. Personalized Stationery

Personalized-Stationery-Pretty-Paper-Club

Why not invest in personalized stationery or thank you notes for your family members? That way there’s no excuse to write Grandma that loving note of appreciation!

Pretty Paper Club is my favorite local, Mom-owned source for our customized stationery needs!

7. Meaningful Framed Photo Display for Your Home

Take the time to get your precious photos off of your phone and into a meaningful display for all to see on a regular basis in your home!

USA-Family-Framed-Map-50-States

Perhaps you want to create a one-of-a-kind 50 states framed map showing where you’ve been or where you’re going around the USA? I am in love with ours!  Thunder Bunny Labs has a map maker tool to easily turn your photos into the shapes of the states.

What are your family favorites that you would add to this list?

* A few of the links I have used are affiliate links which means I may make a few dollars off of your purchase. Please know that I would never recommend anything that I don’t use or believe in myself.

iphone-screentime-teenager-data

The implications of our children spending more time on devices during this pandemic are nothing to ignore.

Right now, our sons and daughters may be in front of screens more than ever out of necessity, or desperation. It’s crucial that we, as parents, cultivate conversation and create boundaries in our homes to help protect our sons and daughters from the harmful effects of device dependency during this time.

We cannot stick our heads in the sand and hand over digital devices to our kids without understanding the ramifications of doing so.

Tom Kersting, a nationally renowned psychotherapist, speaker, and author just released his new book Disconnected full of information and tips we need to lead our children well when it comes to technology and addictive devices.

Take the time to listen to my discussion with Tom about his new book and what it is we parents need to know as we enter into this new school year on screens and beyond!

  • Get Amy’s Family Cellphone Contract HERE
  • Get Tom’s Book- Disconnected HERE
  • Listen to Amy’s interview- Intentionally Raising Kids on Devices- on Tom’s Reconnected Parent Podcast HERE
  • Check out Tom’s website HERE

Disconnected-Book

Carney-Family-RV-Trip-Zion

Families are jumping in RVs and heading to campgrounds in record numbers. Several years ago our family spent seven months in an RV journeying around the United States. We needed to stop the chaos that was our everyday life, slow down, and enjoy one another and our lives for a little while. It was an epic adventure!

No matter if camping is part of your family plan or if it’s something you are considering in the future, you will want to get this book- See you at the Campground.

See-You-At-The-Campground-Book-Review

The Authors Stephanie and Jeremy Puglisi interviewed me about our RV Family Sabbatical on their podcast and when I saw they released another book, I had to check it out!

Whether you’re new to camping or a seasoned pro, See You at the Campground is an awesome resource containing everything you need to know from hiking with infants to navigating RV dealerships to mixing the perfect campfire cocktails. No seriously, anything and everything you want to know about camping is in this book!

Camping-quote-jeremy-puglisi

4 Ways to Choose Your Own Camping Adventure this Summer and Beyond

1. RV Camping Adventures

Are you an RV camper? Would you like to be?

As I said, we lived in this motorhome for nearly seven months in 2014. You don’t have to buy an RV to camp with your family, but it’s definitely not a shabby way to go. If you don’t have an interest in buying, you can certainly rent one on Outdoorsy and try it out for a little while.

Carney-Family-RV-Trip-Zion

2. Cabin Camping Adventures

Now that we no longer own an RV, our family camping preference is staying in cabins. To learn more about these types of camping accommodations you can check out my post from the San Diego, California KOA, and the Williams, Arizona KOA. Both locations even have fun alternate accommodations such as safari tents and teepees too!

Williams-Arizona-KOA-Cabin-Camping

3. Tent Camping Adventures

I’m not going to pretend that I am in the least bit a tent camper. I am not. But, the few times I have done it, have been awesome. I can’t imagine doing it with kids, but maybe you have more patience and tolerance than I do!

Havasupai-Falls-Arizona-Camping

4. Glamping Adventures

Lastly, Keith and I love taking “Glamping Getaways” such as this one we did last summer at Autocamp near Yosemite. Getting to stay in a fully equipped Airstream in the middle of the great outdoors is heaven to us.
Autocamp-Yosemite

 

togather-family-fun-game

We want to be close to our family members.

We want our family to be deeply connected.

Yet, we struggle to find the time to be together.

We say we want a close, connected family yet we race around feeding our kids on the run, or we’re too exhausted to gather our people around the table for meals together.

What if I told you one thing that experts say strengthens kids and families the most, is gathering around the table for family dinner? Would that entice you to try and do it more this year?

The one thing our kids need from us, whether they are toddlers or teens, is purposeful time gathered around the family table talking regularly.

I wrote in my book Parent on Purpose, that research links regular family dinners to better academic performance, higher self-esteem and a greater sense of resilience as well as lower rates of substance abuse, teen pregnancy and depression. Read more

Thank-you-Notes-Teach-Kids-Value-of-Gratitude

No parent sets out to raise an entitled kid, yet it’s happening. Our sons and daughters are growing up in a culture that tells them that they should get what they want when they want it, and they don’t have to do a whole heck of a lot in return either.

Gratitude is the antidote to entitlement; therefore, we must purposely take the time to teach this essential value in our homes by expecting our children to handwrite and send thank you notes.

Thank-you-Notes-Teach-Kids-Value-of-Gratitude

It’s easier to live out the values we say are important to us when we invest in the proper tools to help us. That means if you want your kids to write thank-you notes, then you’re going to need to provide them.

And what better way to do that then to turn to Arizona based Pretty Paper Club to help us express our appreciation and keep connected with loved ones on a regular basis. “Everyone knows the feeling of receiving a letter in the mail from a loved one,” says Pretty Paper Club Owner Natalie Meszaros. “I like to think that your friends and family deserve more than an email or text message now and then.”

kids-need-to-write-thank-you-notes

Take the time and make an effort to teach your kids the importance of sending handwritten thank-you notes by mail.

“I think people mistake writing letters as a chore and sending a text message as more convenient,” says Meszaros. “However, I have found that having a stash of notecards, stamps, and pens handy makes letter writing quite easy.”

5 Reasons Your Kids Should Write Thank You Notes

Pretty Paper Club offers one-time stationery purchases as well as a subscription club sending out unique themed stationery kits on a monthly basis. Meszaros started her company because of her deep love for all things paper. She and her childhood best friend, Julie, wrote thousands of letters to one another as they lived apart from one another before the days of email and cell phones. Sadly, Julie passed away at the age of 33 from breast cancer, but her legacy lives on through Pretty Paper Club. 

Pretty-Paper-Club-Personalized-Stationery

Give the gift of gratitude this holiday season by purchasing personalized stationery or gifting a monthly subscription club membership to someone you love!
Jessica-Lahey-Gift-of-Failure-and-Amy-Carney

We know that strength of character is built by learning through setbacks, mistakes, and miscalculations, so why is it so difficult to allow our kids to experience failure today?

We can thank our child’s school online parent portal app for starters.

As a loving and helpful parent, we open the grade portal to check in on our child’s academic progress, only to see that our son forgot to turn in his homework yesterday, and our daughter bombed her latest math quiz. How are we supposed to react now that this information is in our hands?

Are we really to look at it, shrug our shoulders and go about our normal existence without bringing this knowledge to our child’s attention?

That will never happen because we care about our kids. We care about how our students are doing. And even though we know that our child learning through their mistakes is healthy, we cannot help but communicate with our child, our disappointment in their choices and expect them to do better.

How are we supposed to let our child fail when this portal gives us timely information to help our students better succeed?

The online parent grade portal was never made as a tool to help us embrace failure, but instead, its presence in our lives and on our phones heightens our fear of our child messing up. (We are naturally drawn to the red lines telling us our kids aren’t up to par.)

We can also thank Life360 or the other tracking apps we have on our phones.

Of course, a loving parent would put a tracking app on their child’s phone to keep tabs on their loved one while they’re out navigating the world without us. With it, we’re even able to see how fast our new driver is going since he now takes himself to soccer practice. We set up notifications that tell us when our dear offspring arrives at the field and when they depart as well.

And all the while, we can’t help checking the app throughout the day creating anxiety and stress when we see that our child is not where they’re supposed to be or that they’re driving 9 miles over the speed limit, knowing that they could get pulled over at any moment.

With such ‘helpful’ not helpful parental tools at our fingertips, how are we, as loving parents, to embrace failure as a gift when we can so quickly help our loved one succeed at every turn instead?

We can start by removing these ‘helpful’ apps from our phones and reading the book The Gift of Failure by Jessica Lahey, where the author helps parents learn to step back and embrace their children’s setbacks along with their success.

Jessica-Lahey-Quote-Gift-of-Failure

Parents want to raise resourceful, persistent, innovative, and resilient citizens yet, culture has us confused about how to do that, and Lahey’s book is the perfect aide to help us get back on track.

Thanks to modern parenting styles and technology, we are launching kids into adulthood without the proper skills and mindset they need to be successful. If we continue to parent in an overbearing manner, our son or daughter may become ill-equipped to deal with ordinary life experiences or cope with everyday disappointments.

We must decide to step back and allow our children to struggle more because it’s what’s best for them. We must choose to remove the ‘helpful’ apps from our phones and let our sons and daughters fail and make mistakes. Lahey helps us shift our mindset to welcome the errors our child will make as a regular part of growing up.

Jessica-Lahey-Gift-of-Failure-and-Amy-Carney

In The Gift of Failure, Lahey teaches us how to purposely lead our children into discomfort, strengthening their character and resolve. She guides us to understand how to be interested, yet not intrusive. Lahey helps us grasp why we must allow our children chances to step up, try, fail, and try again until they get it right. She also teaches us how to enable our children to survive their failures, earn their triumphs, and expect them to contribute to the family household.

The Gift of Failure has targeted advice for handling homework, report cards, social dynamics, and sports. The book helps parents understand why they need to step back and embrace their children’s setbacks along with their successes so they can thrive and grow into independent, confident adults.

Check out my favorite parenting books at my Parent on Purpose Amazon Store!

Grown-&-Flown-Book-Review

As a parent of three sons on the verge of adulthood, one daughter right behind them and one son in middle school, Grown & Flown is one of my favorite websites for all things parenting older kids. Not only have I gained wisdom and insight from this popular online parenting resource, but I have also been blessed to write for G&F as well.

Grown-&-Flown-Founders-Lisa-Heffernan-Mary-Dell-Harrington

Lisa, Mary Dell and I at Mom 2.0 Summit in Austin!

Grown & Flown cofounders, Lisa Heffernan and Mary Dell Harrington, have expanded on the online content from their #1 site for parents of teens and young adults and compiled all of their wisdom for those of us following in their parental footsteps into this beautiful hardback book.

The Dynamic Duo teamed with physicians, psychologists, educators, and writers, to produce this essential guide for building strong relationships with our teens and preparing them to launch into adulthood successfully. I love that both of our books feature a paper airplane on the cover too. Great minds (and great publishers) think alike!

Grown-&-Flown-Book-Review

The book Grown & Flown: How to Support Your Teen, Stay Close as a Family and Raise Independent Adults is a one-stop resource for parenting teenagers, leading up to- and through- high school and those first years of independence. This 335-page book is packed full of advice and wisdom from professionals and parents who have gone before us. You will want to dig through and take what works for you and leave behind what doesn’t.

The book is organized by topic: family life, mental health, academics, college admissions, separating and letting go, college life, and more. The unique chapter topics make it easy to decide what you want to read, depending on your current parenting stage.

Grown-&-Flown-Book-Review

7 Messages You May Need to Read in the New Book Grown & Flown:

  • Why you may want to trust your teen instead of track them
  • 5 signs you may be overparenting your student
  • How to demonstrate loving support to your student instead
  • Why we want and need, to raise intrinsically motivated students 
  • 15 valuable lessons from a high school teacher
  • Why you may want to rethink the 4-year university path for your child
  • Our parental role in helping our child choose a college

In the book, there is an excellent resource that I am saving for next summer on 50 Questions to Ask Before You go Dorm Shopping. I thought I would buy a Bed-in-A-Bag and call it a day. Apparently not. So, I look forward to digging into this section of the book when it’s time to send our sons off to college next year!

If you are parenting teens or college-aged kids, let me know why Grown & Flown’s new book would be an excellent resource for you. Leave a comment below for your chance to win your very own hardback copy!

Winner will be chosen by random on September 17, 2019. Must be a US resident to win for shipping purposes.

Don’t want to wait? Order your copy at a discount off Amazon HERE!

Want to read my work online at Grown & Flown? Click HERE!

 

 

For-Purpose-Kids-Do-Good-Starter-Kit

Be Kind. Do Good. Make the World Better.

For Purpose Kid’s simple motto is one we should all strive to raise our kids by today. 

How can we habitually make kindness and goodness an authentic part of childhood despite the self-serving culture that we are raising our kids in?

We must decide that it’s important enough to live these important values out regularly. Thanks to the value-based Toolkits from For Purpose Kids, parents now have tangible tools to use to teach younger children important character traits.

It’s a parent’s duty to purposely instill the pertinent lifelong values that will develop children of character who can go into the world and make it a better place.

Michelle-Borba-Values-Quote

Founder Misty Castañeda started imagining how different the world might look if we, as parents, consciously raised kids to be kind and caring, so she created an interactive learning program known as For Purpose Kids.

The For Purpose Kids Toolkits inspire children 5 to 10 to learn about being kind and doing good for people, communities, animals, and the environment through activities, books, and events. Built upon a subscription model for ongoing, interactive learning, the Toolkits engage young kids in meaningful conversations using multicultural characters and stories.

Misty graciously sent our family the Do Good Starter Kit, so my youngest son and I kicked off summer break by opening it up and talking through its contents.

For-Purpose-Kids-Do-Good-Starter-Kit

In our family, we focus on showing kindness and love, so this subscription box fits the values we are already authentically trying to live out.

My son cut out the characters and had the idea to write their names on the tops of them. We were able to read through the descriptions of each character, and he decided that Deepu was his favorite because of his love for animals.

For-Purpose-Kids-Do-Good-Starter-Kit

The journal was our favorite product in the box. Even though you can buy a journal anywhere, this Yoobi one felt special because it was specifically designed to use for our journey in showing kindness. We thought it was a perfect idea to write down our Random Acts of Kindness that we already authentically do in our lives. It will be even more fun now having somewhere we can log all of our fun and kind moments together.

Read my post on For Purpose Kids – Why We Need to Prioritize Serving With Our Kids!

This journal will be a great tool to help my son work on his writing and storytelling skills. He is excited about the journal because it came in this subscription box. If I had pulled out a blank book and said he was going to write in it, I’m sure this opportunity would not feel as fun.

For-Purpose-Kids-Do-Good-Starter-Kit-Yoobi-Journal

For every For Purpose Kids Toolkit purchased, five meals are donated to kids at the Sunnaay Foundation, an organization in New Delhi, India that provides basic education, nourishment, and support for underprivileged children. For Purpose Kids is not affiliated with any non-profit or religious organization, so you can incorporate your personal beliefs and faith alongside what is provided. 

In our family, we added Biblical scripture to further discuss why we live a life of kindness and love to others.

1-John-3:8

For Purpose Kids is offering my readers a 15% discount code until August 31 using ParentonPurpose.