Only a few days left for honoring Moms. I do hope that you have the sort of family that takes initiative and celebrates Mother's Day without needing your handy work involved, consider yourself one of the lucky few.
But being realistic...that just doesn't happen too often, and so this goes out to the Mother's in my "club".
Don't feel downhearted and whine "no one appreciates me", because expectations are set too high, but instead help our family celebrate with us. Husbands aren't also wired to know that these "little" holidays are important too. My husband's line is "I am not supposed to love you and appreciate every day aren't I? And you don't expect flowers every day do you?" HA! Anyways....it's obvious they need help.
First build up the excitement, almost like a countdown clock, if you will, and create a feeling of anticipation in your household. I have suggested some things, but here's some more to add.
Craft Choice 2
"Count Down To Love"
For Christmas we place a countdown tree. For Mother's Day, you can create a paper stem with leaves out of construction paper. Then each day create a colored petal from construction paper and have your child write something they love that you do for them. I like to have my children create 6 petals in all, which gives each of my children two petals each to add starting 6 days out until the big day. This way we all can know the day is nearly approaching, plus it teaches them to think about what they are going to say when it's their turn, so the messages are really meaningful. We place the "countdown" flower on the fridge, so it can be reached easily, and then easily removed when Mother's Day is over.
Craft Choice 3
I know that we moms love to leave little messages in secret places from time to time inside our children's lunchboxes, or on the pillows for them to find later. It lets them know how much we are thinking of them all day, and guess what? We moms would love that too! So here's a thought! If you have any leftover (out of date) checks, or if not then create some look-a-like checks, you can give these to you children. They can use the checks as a way to "payback" their appreciation. They can learn to sign their name, write a memo, date, and who the payment is for.
Craft Choice 4
Much like the checkbook, children can create a coupon book for mom. Visit www.allfreeprintables.com/mother and the coupons can be printed off and your kids can decorate and color the coupons as they like. It's a great way to encourage them to do chores without the need to have us moms instigate it. My youngest son loves to help out, so I don't have to say much to him, but my teenage boys, it seems like war breaks out every time I ask them to do dishes, and we even have a dishwasher! So this coupon book allows them to "control" when and what chore they will do. This is definitely one of my favorites.
So Enjoy these simple craft ideas, and be sure to come back tomorrow, because I will give some easy Kid friendly recipes for your kids to make you the perfect breakfast, that doesn't include pickles and peanut butter!
Helping you have a season ready home, ~Crystal
