Now What Baby: Mama Knows Best + Mother's Day Gift Idea!

My mom has given me lots of advice throughout my life. Most of it I tended to dismiss as unimportant before becoming a parent myself. It's interesting how the moment I entered the mommy world suddenly all the advice my mom had became indispensable. Choosing one piece to be the most important is tough, honestly, pretty much impossible. Apparently, my mom is filled with useful knowledge. There is however, one thing that she taught me that I now use daily and that is to be consistent. She said that when it comes to teaching my children things and to punishing them - it is very important to be consistent. It may sound like a simple concept but for me it is extremely difficult to be "consistent" with. For example - if my punishment for Jackson hitting his big bro is a 5 minute time out on the steps. This is theory seems simple to adhere to but if you have ever met Jackson you would understand the amount of effort it takes to make these 5 minutes take place. He marches to the beat of his own drum as they say and in order to achieve this simple punishment I pretty much have to stand by, constantly putting him back in time out, and in the end it takes a 5 min punishment a good 40 minutes to be executed. Not to mention when we are out somewhere and he hits his brother - it's almost impossible to implement the 5 minute time out without leaving where we are to find a suitable time out location. If I wait until we return home my 2 year old has no clue what he is being punished for in the first place. Being consistent takes a great deal of effort on my part and there are certainly moments when I try to justify just giving him a stern talking to and pushing the issue aside.

Hard as my mom's advice can be to live by, I have learned very quickly that when I do - my children clearly learn what I am trying to teach them. It's a simple concept but until my mom pointed it out to me I didn't realize just how inconsistent I was in so many areas of their lives. This policy also means that daddy and I need to in force the same things. More often than not, we tend to do things a little differently with the boys. To truly be consistent we have to be sure to clearly discuss how we are going to handle things. Most of you have probably already gotten to the whole consistent idea but for me it was one of the best tips my mom sent my way (she has many other gems as well!).

With Mother's Day right around the corner and a post dedicated to talking about my mama - it's hard not to point out some gift ideas for the lady's that gave us life. Tiny Prints is an excellent destination to find mother's day cards for all the special women in your life. I love that they offer the option of personalized cards, meaning you can put photos of your children, mom, grandma, etc.. into the card along with words of your choosing. It really makes the card special, one of a kind, and clearly something you planned in advance instead of picking up at the local drug store on the way to mother's day brunch. I am also a big fan of the card that says "Hey Mom, I blame you...for making me so amazingly awesome" and the card that says "Moms they're like Dads only smarter". Tiny Prints cards range from $1.99 - $3.99 per card and for a personalized card that price to me is unbelievable. I spend $3.99 at Kroger on some random last minute card. Definitely check out the selection today here and be prepared this year with a card that wows and becomes a keepsake!

Tiny Prints provides simple, modern and unique stationery from Father’s Day Cards to personalized greeting cards to thank you cards, business cards, and even custom wedding invitations or photo birth announcements. Offering exclusive designs from the nation’s top designers, easy card personalization, a powerful preview engine and top-notch customer service and paper quality, their designs have been lauded by numerous television networks, publications and celebrities. With Tiny Prints by your side commemorating every holiday and momentous occasion is a cinch! They offer perfect party invitations for every occasion and memorable personalized photo-gifts like notebooks, photo books and calendars to commemorate the event.

Special thanks to Tiny Prints for the inspiration behind this post and also to providing us with a Tiny Prints gift card for our participation. The opinions in this post are my own.

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4.11.2011

Mama Knows Best + Mother's Day Gift Idea!

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