Showing posts with label chores. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chores. Show all posts

Saturday, September 20, 2014

Take the Daily Grind from Blah to Brilliant!

"Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall," Fitzgerald wrote in The Great Gatsby.    

It's the beginning of a new school year and the perfect time to start fresh.  This time of year begs for creation.  The sky is Michelangelo-blue and we witness nature's art direction as leaves transform into vibrant colors.  The September Equinox is actually a holiday in the whoopiesphere - September 22 is the Autumnal New Year.  However, getting the kids back to school, driving carpools, and weekends with a plethora of obligatory activities can create the blahs.  We are busy with obligations!  Here are some ways to make the daily grind go from blah to brilliant.   

1.  Make time for yourself.  Self care is health care.  Schedule at least one activity a week to pamper yourself.  A recent study found that 87% women would rather have a massage than sex.  Ok, well go out there and get your freaking massage!  
2.  Chores.  Make a list of household jobs and have a family meeting to decide who will take on which jobs.  Who knows, you may just get rid of having to clean the toilets.  
3.  Whoopify the carpool.  Add a locker disco ball to your dashboard with a rockin' play list.  Or, listen to a book on tape.   Provide crazy hats for riders.  Wear your tiara, real or  metaphoric, to be the queen of your life and make whoopie in the world.

The point is that there are always things in life to improve and to transform.  Do you have something you want to change or create? Maybe you'd like to...
* Make a transition in your career 
* Improve your love life 
* Free yourself from self doubt
* Cultivate ways to enjoy a tough situation 
* Get your child(ren) to behave differently
* Or feel more positive about something 
If you want to speed up your success rate, then I'd like to help you do it with a special one-on-one personal "Creating Your Life" coaching session where we'll work together to...create a vision for ultimate success so you know exactly what you want, where you're headed, and what you need to do to make it happen. Uncover hidden challenges that may be sabotaging your ability to make changes that last or that are slowing down your progress.  Leave this session renewed, re-energized, and inspired to finally achieve the change you seek- once and for all.

 ****  "Creating Your Life" Coaching Session   ****
If you'd like to take advantage of this very special, very limited, and totally FREE 30 minute "Creating Your Life" coaching session, email me @cyndy@whoopiequeen.com.  This offer is good through the Autumnal Equinox on September 22, 2014.  Whoop POW! 

Hugs,
Cyndy, The Whoopie Queen 

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Whoop-Powing The Chaos

I recently heard in a Positive Psychology course that there is no such thing as getting rid of a bad habit.  You simply have to replace it with another habit, hopefully a good one.   For most people, with the kids starting back to school, things get a look wack-a-doo in the morning routine.   A few years back, I decided to whoop-pow the chaos and make a change, a great change.  My goal was to encourage my kiddos to become independent children and get them doing what they need to do.  And selfishly, I wanted to have more a little more time to have a coffee and wrap my head around the day in order to make some whoopie!

This week, my kids come down from their rooms with their beds made, clothes on, and ready for breakfast.  I am not showing off!  Just want to share what I wish someone had shared with me when I was living in morning chaos.  You have to bribe these suckers!

First day of school cuties below!!!  Could they fit more in their backpacks?!
And so I give you a mommy's little helper in lieu of yelling and alcohol. It works-guaranteed!  Other mom friends have used this tool and love it. 

Reward/bribe the kids for doing what they need to do with a chart to get them into good habits. We started out calling it a superhero helper list and after good patterns were established, we changed it up to be a chore chart.  When my son was 5-6 years old, he got tickets.  Twenty tickets = an action figure he could "buy."  Over the years, the reward became allowance money for check marks, 25 cents per check.  Periodically, a raise is rewarded.  My daughter Gigi has always gotten allowance money because she is the second child and, well, second, third, fourth, fifth kids get things that the first never would. 

Examples of "charts" are to the left and if you want a copy, email me and I'll send them to you.   cyndy@whoopiequeen.com  You can customize them with pictures of whatever your little ones are into.  And as things become routine, you can get rid of them and add new "projects."

Now, I'm on a mission to get the kids to do laundry and cook a meal at least one night a week.  Alright, laundry may be too ambitious.  However, tonight David Dean is preparing nachos for dinner.  Here comes a chaotic kitchen!


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...Nachos were a hit!  David's dad showed him how to grill the steak and cut up all the toppings.  He said he liked the grill the best and wants to do hamburgers next week.  It's a little Daddy/David grill time.  Boys do love fire.  See, bribery works!