MUM-e-Mail

- a newsletter to enthuse, educate, and entertain
mothers of pre-schoolers and their supporters

March 2006

 

Mothering Maxim – Mother’s Influence in the Family

The pessimist complains about the direction of the wind, the optimist expects the direction to change, but the leader simply adjusts the sails.  Examine your sails periodically!

 

Mum Moment – Five Star Families

Moving Yours From Good to Great   

I know you’re busy and you have a lot of things on your mind. That’s called “normal” in a mum’s life. But I have a quick question: What matters most in the midst of all you’re doing?

Author Carol Kuykendall has asked lots of mothers that question and the overwhelming answer is “my family”. Yes! Family matters--because family is that circle of people who mean the most to us in the whole wide world.

But if family matters to you, have you thought about what kind of family you want to be?

What matters most in your family?

How about these five qualities? Love, fun, loyalty, growth and faith.

The process of becoming a Five Star Family happens in the midst of manoeuvring our way through the bumps in our lives and takes some perseverance.

Any worthwhile effort does. Often our efforts seem invisible, but it’s the most important investment we can make, especially when our children are young, and our influence is the greatest.

And the process begins with us first. As you know, the family is the primary place of growth in our lives. It is the context in which we discover most about ourselves. So if we want our families to shine with love, fun, loyalty, growth and faith, we need to examine these qualities in our own lives.

Love: What expressions of love are most important to me?
Fun: What kind of fun recharges my own batteries?
Loyalty: What does healthy family loyalty mean to me?
Growth: How am I continuing to grow, even though I’m grown up?
Faith: Where do I find the kind of hope that I can shine into the lives of the people in my family?

Over the next few months in MUM-e-Mail, we will explore these qualities. You will begin to see the ways you can influence your family to experience and express these five qualities.

When you do, you bring out the best in each other. And you grow closer to God’s dream for us as individuals and families. That we might “shine like stars in the universe.” (Phil. 2:15)

Wow!

Book: ’Five Star Families: Moving Yours From Good to Great’  by Carol Kuykendall (c) 2005

From A Mother’s Heart

I need to focus on what matters most:

1.                 Love—meets our greatest needs

2.                 Fun—makes us want to be together

3.                 Loyalty—connects us through time

4.                 Growth—keeps us healthy

5.                 Faith—lights our way home

- Aiming for Five Star-Qualities

 

 

Mum's Mail*

Welcome to the new MUM-e-Mail members – there’s 228 mothers of preschoolers and their supporters from New Zealand, Australia, USA, Canada, Hong Kong, England, etc.

You are welcome to forward this MUM-e-Mail in its entirety to your friends, mothers of pre-schoolers and their supporters. If your friend has forwarded this to you and you wish to subscribe, it's easy. Click on this hyperlink and send blank e-mail to:  mum-e-mail-subscribe@yahoogroups.com .

May you contagiously shine in your family this week ,

Wishing you strength, wisdom, and dignity for your days,

Yours faithfully,

 Johanna Whittaker

mumemail@...  - *letters*, feedback, questions, mother’s tips*, ideas welcome

on behalf of MOPS (NZ) Inc. www.MOPSNZ.bravehost.com
© 2006 by MOPS New Zealand Inc and MOPS International.