I don’t know about you, but I grew up with a big list o’ things I would NEVER say to MY kids. Of course, these were things my mom said to me when I was a kid, things I didn’t like. It’s not that my mom wasn’t amazing in many areas. Nobody had a more playful, humorous outlook on life than my mom. Plus, I’d give anything to have her alive, here with me again. That said, there were definitely some parts of her parenting I didn’t want to replicate.
When I …

Why I Don’t Want Balance!
by Jo Della Penna
Note: I am delighted to feature guest blogger, Jo Della Penna on The Guilt Free Mom blog! I’m always on a mission to offer you a variety of viewpoints on how moms can ditch the guilt, raise great kids while growing a profitable business.  Jo Della has a delightful heart-centered approach to helping people (overwhelmed moms included) grow their businesses to be profitable and still enjoy the rest of their lives!  Be sure to check out the info at the end of her post …

It wasn’t pretty.
In fact, it was downright ugly.
I’m talking about my tantrum. I had a mommy melt-down. I was tired, cranky, overwhelmed. Did I mention stressed? My reasons were many, and overall, I was just on overload. I had too many things I needed AND wanted to do, and not enough time to do them. And I wanted to do them without any interruptions. Without my kids arguing. Without the dogs needing to be let out every 5 minutes. Without anyone needing anything from me. Was this realistic? Of course not. I’m just venting here, …

I remember back in the ’90s there was a hilarious comedy routine that Jeff Foxworthy did called, “You might be a redneck if…”He’d drawl, “You might be a redneck if you mow your grass and find five cars” or “You might be a redneck if you think the stock market has a fence around it.” I started thinking that it’d be great to use this same humorous “You might be a….” formula and apply it to guilt-ridden moms. Not that mother guilt is anything to laugh about. But then again, …

 While I can get as excited as anyone about all the wild, wonderful possibilities that exist within the expanse of a New Year, I also don’t want to jump right into the positive goals/resolutions thing that seems to be everywhere right now. Oh, I’ll be jumping on that bandwagon soon, but right now, I really need to be brutally honest with myself about what I WON’T be doing. What I’ve learned about myself is that I need to get really clear when I first figure out what isn’t working for …

As a mother, do you look forward to the holiday season? Or does it induce visions of tantrumming children, pouting relatives, and an ever-growing to-do list? You’d be in good company if you felt both excited and stressed.  No matter what holiday you celebrate, here are a few tips to keep you from wanting to throw in the towel and running away to the North Pole:

 1. Keep your expectations in check, and get clear on what you want. What would a stress-free, guilt-free holiday look like for YOU? Never mind what …

I’ve been interested in talking about those “pink elephants in the living room” (you know, the stuff that people don’t want to talk about but you KNOW is there) since I was a kid. It’s no surprise then that one of my favorite childhood stories was The Emperor’s New Clothes. It thrilled me when, in that story, one brave little child had the audacity to shout out, “The Emperor is naked!” And the truth is, children are truth-tellers from birth, until it is socialized out of them. When I taught school, …

BizMom’s “Secrets Revealed” Retreat
November 7-8, 2009, Salt Lake City, Utah

As a Millionaire Mindset BizMom have you ever…
…hidden in a closet so your kids can’t find you while you made a business call?
…raced through a fast food joint to feed the family in time to meet a deadline?
….spent hours strip searching your desk for that important piece of paper?
….been drowning in email “Quick Sand”?
….had a child in “melt down” while you were on the phone?
…felt like you were running way-past “empty” just trying to get it all done?
Chances are you have …

“C’mon, Mom—let’s GO! I want to GO somewhere!” I hear this phrase every day from my youngest child who’s seven. As an extrovert, she gets her energy from being around people, and the people in her house don’t always cut it it! She’s been wired this way from birth. I could see her try to meet others’ eyes, even as a tiny baby. She smiled and laughed in an effort to engage others around her. You could just see her searching for ways to connect with others.
My other daughter, who’s …

As promised, I’m back with the next post in the “How To Thrive (Not Just Survive) Summer” series. Having your kids home during the summer doesn’t have to mean chaos and stress, but it DOES mean you have to plan ahead. In the previous post, I asked you to get clear on where you are with this summertime issue. Do you dread hearing, “I’m bored?” Are you worried that your kids will argue and ask you to referee? If you work from home as I do, do you wonder how you’ll …