THE AWKWARD MOM

because uncomfortable conversations are the ones worth having

Category: Discussion Questions (page 1 of 4)

Struggling with Faith? You’re in Good Company.

Reading Time: 4 minutes

struggling with faith

It was a conversation in my cubicle more than a decade ago, but my friend’s words remain seared in my mind: “You know, I think God loves strugglers.”

You know? I see it. read more

New Year 2021: Ideas to Put the “New” Back In

Reading Time: 4 minutes

New Year 2021

While living in Uganda, my language acquisition developed to an equivalent of that drunken-sailor lurch of a new toddler. That is, my ability to speak resembled lurching, grinning, and occasionally falling on my rear.

And of course just because you can speak a language doesn’t mean you use it in the same ways. I’d occasionally get weird looks for wishing someone Merry Christmas (Seku Kulu enungi!) in December. Apparently Ugandans keep this phrase pretty much for Christmas day. read more

End Racial Discrimination. Start at Home, with These Ideas

Reading Time: 3 minutes

end racial discriminationI know I wasn’t the only mom whose gut sunk like a stone when I heard of the death (“passing” seems a misnomer) of George Floyd. Just weeks after our family discussion about Ahmaud Arbery, we sat down in lieu of online church to talk again about racial discrimination.

Truth: Sometimes I wish I didn’t tell you I’d help with “uncomfortable conversations…worth having.”

But here’s another truth: Those of you readers of color probably didn’t have an option for this uncomfortable conversation with your kids. read more

So You’re Bored in Quarantine: 6 Ideas

Reading Time: 5 minutes

bored in quarantine

So for a lot of the world, boredom is real. I read in a meme that pandas can eat 13 hours a day…hence calling this a “pandemic.” Need a couple of fresh ideas while you’re bored in quarantine?

Jigsaw puzzles that get you talking.

Try these jigsaw puzzles from White Mountain with icons from the 80’s and the 90’s–serious conversation starters. (“Dad, who was Michael Jackson?”) read more

Reflection Prompts for Your Soul’s Christmas

Reading Time: 4 minutes

reflection time alone with God

I’ve shored myself in tonight for something I’ve looked forward to for a month and a half.

For my birthday, my husband got me a personal retreat. And the timing is pitch-perfect. (Well, save the fact that my body seems to have been anticipating the drop of adrenaline, welcoming in a cold.) read more

18 Dashboard-Light Questions: Am I Overcommitted?

Reading Time: 3 minutes

dashboard overcommitted

After the all-too-recent my-kid-might-have-lymphoma scare? There are some things that have been going right.

For one, after a year of doing my freelance writing and marketing for my only employment, I filed for my own business. I am now the owner of Fresh Ink, LLC. So that’s pretty cool. read more

Denial, What Lies Beneath, and Why it Matters to You

Reading Time: 5 minutes

denial medicine diagnosis

So I should probably tell you that generally (weirdly?) I do not go to the doctor when sick. I’ve taken kids for ear infections and all that, and certainly that time when my son’s staph infection on his jaw made him resemble Jay Leno (also weirdly. And yes, I remember writing about the importance of getting your kids’ behavioral diagnosis.

But still.) read more

How Far You’ve Come: 20+ End-of-Year Prompts to Journal & Reflect

Reading Time: 4 minutes

As we waltz into December, it’s meaningful to me to look back on this year and ask my soul a few questions. How you doing in there?

David Benner, in The Gift of Being Yourself: The Sacred Call to Self-Discovery, writes,

Christian spirituality involves a transformation of the self that occurs only when God and self are both deeply known. Both, therefore, have an important place in Christian spirituality. There is no deep knowing of God without a deep knowing of self, and no deep knowing of self without a deep knowing of God. John Calvin wrote, “Nearly the whole of sacred doctrine consists in these two parts: knowledge of God and of ourselves.” read more

Should I let my kid quit? Questions to ask

Reading Time: 6 minutes

A couple of weeks ago, I was stuffing paper bags with sandwiches, flipping pancakes, signing permission slips, smelling breath to confirm teeth brushing, etc.–all your average morning chaos. That’s when my middle child told me he was quitting football.

Imagine the activity in my kitchen suddenly lurching to a halt. “What? Why?”

He had some good reasons. And a few not-great, 12-year-old ones. It was one of those weird parenting situations where you wish there was a highly detailed playbook. What to do when your kid wants to quit football and he’s been in it for a month and isn’t getting to play and… I told him to go to practice, and we’d talk about it on the weekend. read more

Guest post: 12 Discussion Starters to Help Kids Think Personally about Poverty

Reading Time: 2 minutes
Open House kids playing hospitality

Playing with a friend in Uganda

A couple of weeks ago my trusty Subaru was packed with a bunch of sweaty kids (mine), headed home from our organization’s picnic. The mood was light, the windows down. We played two of my admittedly weird games:

  • Where in life do you think your sibs and yourself will be in twelve years? 
  • Where around the world could you see yourself going to help people?

The first was pretty hysterical, peppered with some interjections about read more

« Older posts

© 2024 THE AWKWARD MOM

Theme by Anders NorenUp ↑

Show Buttons
Hide Buttons