April 2021 - Parent on Purpose

Meaningful Gifts for Mom

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 total health with a deeper appreciation for the importance of leaving a legacy while alive and able. Because of that experience, I developed my legacy keepsake product line.

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 look deeper at meaningful keepsakes we can hand 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, future generations can only treasure our wisdom if we take the time to share our stories.

1. 100 Questions for Mom Journal

The 100 Questions for Mom journal helps moms of all ages and stages intentionally record the many moments of their lives and legacies.
This guided journal, created for mothers and grandmothers, contains thoughtful prompts encouraging 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

We love to post our precious digital photos on social media, 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 and preserve our printed photos 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 and 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

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

April 25, 2021/0 Comments/by Amy Carney

Blog

5 Ways to Celebrate Earth Day

Let’s use Earth Day as an excuse to pause and consider how well we are stewarding God’s beautiful creation- our planet Earth.

Our children are watching how we treat the things we’ve been given, including our planet.

Here Are 5 Ways to Celebrate Earth Day 🌎 and Beyond

1. Create a new earth-friendly habit for your family

Buy washable, reusable grocery bags to use instead of plastic. (My favorites are Envirosax. They are cute, durable, and hold up really well. I still have my original set from a decade ago. Makes for a great Mother’s Day gift too!)

We loved our weekly outings to Uptown Farmers Market in Phoenix during quarantine!

Can you cut down on purchasing one-time-use disposables and single-use plastics such as bottled water? We stopped buying bottled water over a year ago and fill up reusable pitchers and individual stainless steel bottles instead.
My favorite habit we started during Covid quarantine was to begin composting thanks to Recycled City. Why not throw your food waste into a compost bin instead of the trash can contributing to your local food economy by creating fresh, chemical-free soil.

2. Get outside and enjoy an Earth Dayte

Visit a National Park since it’s also National Park Week this week! Get the details HERE
Go support a local farmers market or farm-to-table restaurant. Find your local farmer’s market or local food directory HERE
Take the kids on an Earth Day Scavenger Hunt or Color Walk around the neighborhood

3. Stay inside and enjoy learning virtually

Play an online game to test your recycling knowledge HERE
Take a virtual tour of a Recycling Facility

4. Keep used textiles out of landfills and donate them instead

It’s not helpful to drop off stained, ripped, or worn-out clothing at any thrift store. Instead of throwing your unusable textiles in the garbage, you can drop them in for-profit parking lot bins and they will turn your “trash” into treasure. (Or so they say they will and they are out of your house anyway!)

You can also recycle your plastic grocery bags at accepting locations near you HERE Learn what plastics are recyclable HERE You might be surprised what you are throwing away that you could recycle instead!

Also, look for places to donate your old batteries, corks, printer ink cartridges, or electronics.

5. Make eco-friendly household cleaners

White vinegar and vodka are power cleaners, easily cutting through grease and removing mildew, odors, stains, and wax buildup. Reuse existing spray bottles in your home instead of buying new ones! HERE are some eco-friendly cleaning ‘recipes’ from my friend Sami.

What other ways do you mindfully steward the amazing planet that we live on?

April 18, 2021/0 Comments/by Amy Carney

Blog, Uncategorized

5 Ways to Raise Money Smart Kids

When I was growing up, the subject of money was taboo. It’s no wonder I struggled with overspending and compiling significant debt as a young adult. I worked two jobs, yet I didn’t have the skills to properly manage my money because I’d never learned how to do so.

Therefore, I knew through my financial struggles that I wanted to do my best to raise my children with stronger financial skills. What they then did with that knowledge would be up to them as adults.

How can we raise money smart kids today?

We can teach them from a young age (or as teenagers) how to earn, spend, save, and give their money away.

5 Ways to Raise MONEY SMART KIDS

1. Model conscious spending habits

Let your children see you consciously save, spend, and give away your money as they grow up in your home. Let them see your spending decisions match your values. Talk about how you choose to save money in one area so that you can spend in another.

Maybe you purposely buy a less expensive car or house than what you can afford so that you instead have money to take a memory-making family vacation or have money to give away to people in need.

Perhaps you teach your kids how to stretch their dollars by modeling the value of shopping at thrift stores, resale retailers, and consignment shops. Shopping second-hand is good for the environment as well as for our wallets.

Explain to your kids that the less you spend on material items, the more you have to spend on experiences that matter. Be conscious of what you choose to spend your money on because your children are paying attention.

2. Consider ways for your child to earn money

There are so many ways to help even young children begin to earn their own cash today.

Teach your children the value of recycling and that by helping our environment, you can also build up your bank accounts. When our kids were young, we lived in California, where recycling plastic water bottles and aluminum cans can earn you cash in hand.

Now we take our already-read books to Half Price Books and our outgrown clothes to consignment shops for the kids to earn cash. Our older kids sell items on online sites like Offer Up, eBay, or Poshmark.

How could your son or daughter begin to earn their own money before they’re old enough to get a job in the community?

3. Give your kids a consistent allowance to manage

Giving an allowance is a way that we can begin to teach our kids how to save, spend, and donate their money.

An allowance isn’t earned in our home but instead given as an opportunity for our kids to learn how to budget. Our kids are learning how to manage their money, and the goal is for them to see that there’s not an unlimited supply of cash. They are learning to make choices when it comes to their spending and saving.

READ 4 TIPS FOR GIVING KIDS AN ALLOWANCE

One weekend our daughter used her allowance money to go to the water park with her friends. When she came home, she said she couldn’t believe how expensive it was. She would never know those waterpark outings were expensive if we continued to pay for them.

Allow your child to feel the pain of their spending choices now while the stakes are low.

4. Have your child open and manage their bank account

It’s a good idea to have your children each open a bank account early in life. After beginning with a savings account, they can eventually begin a checking account, possibly with a debit card attached, so they can start to learn how to use banking tools successfully before leaving home.

Teach your children how to deposit and withdraw money in the bank and online. I prefer my kids still go into the bank branch and work face-to-face with the tellers, even though most of the transactions could be done online.

5. Invest in tools to help you teach financial lessons

Engage your children in learning about important financial concepts in your mission to raise Money Smart Kids.

The Allowance Game was a family favorite when our kids were growing up! If you’ve got elementary school-aged kids, grab this board game at Lakeshore Learning HERE.

How are you striving to raise Money Smart Kids in your home?

April 11, 2021/0 Comments/by Amy Carney