One Secret to Success for a Working Mom, Expand Your Village (Jack and Jill of America)

Jack and Jill of America member and her daughter Recently, I have become keenly aware that good kids are created by accident. They become good because someone made a concerted effort to pour positive things into them--things like, honor, discipline and respect for others. These qualities are taught through lessons and by observation. For that reason, I have been actively considering how to give my children more examples of people who embody those qualities.  Indeed, raising my children to become good people is my most important job.

Thankful Thursday: My Family is Together

Siblings enjoying a day together



  • Blessed are those who have their children to hug, kiss and cherish. 
  • Blessed are those who were born into a country where they can sleep well at night with the assurance that neither they nor their children will be gunned down in the street.
  • Blessed are those who have enough food, ample shelter, and sufficient clean water.



Those of us who were born into a life where we can take that for granted are beyond fortunate. I cannot imagine being forcibly separated from my children for any reason. Ever since I practiced extended breast feeding with my oldest child, I have been literally and figuratively connected to my kids.  I need them to breathe. And several times of day they cry out, "Mommy!" The baby simply cries and his desires are understood.

I write a lot about how things could be better in my life and they could. Still, each and every night, I go to sleep with the blessed assurance that my children are safe, well fed, and generally happy. I shall no longer take that for granted. And I will not judge mothers who sacrifice everything for the ability to be able to do the same. I will also not judge kids who have momentary lapses in judgment. And I won't excuse officers who are charged with protecting and serving, yet wind up killing 


Instead, I will reflect on what it means to be a mom and how we might influence our government to work to unite families instead of tearing them apart. Our president has passed an executive order that is intended to prevent family separation at the border. Let's hope that the implementing policies accomplish that task.



'He's all I have left': Immigrants crossing into US unaware, stunned by family separations

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