Plan a trip to Disney this year.


6



I wrestle with leaving the church but I want to save you a lifetime of feelings of unworthiness. It’s totally normal to feel like you’re not good enough. We all battle those kinds of insecurities, so the last thing we need is to be taught that God thinks it too. Know that in reality we are all precious, down to the subatomic level. So when you think you’re unworthy, shake it off! You belong in every room you enter.


13, 15, 21



Sometimes procrastination is part of the process. Eventually though, doing the thing is easier than stressing over it or hiding from it.


10. 12, 15, 21



Knowing something is right and application of it are two different things. To apply yourself takes discipline. Practice it.


15



“Tell me the story of your day.” (Works better than “how was your day?”


5, 6, 10



Commonly misspelled words - find tricks for remembering. Example desert vs dessert. “Dessert” has an extra “s” for sugar. Search for mnemonics.


11



Find one or two scary documentaries on the dangers of gambling. Watch together. Betting on sports is a big thing in some schools and I want to scare the $@!#% out of him about how bad gambling can screw up his life. Check online tools from gamblers anonymous.


15



I’d rather you be brave than perfect. Take chances. Fail, then pick yourself up and keep going.


18



Taken from a friend’s Facebook post: You are holding a cup of coffee when someone comes along and bumps into you or shakes your arm, making you spill your coffee everywhere. Why did you spill the coffee? "Because someone bumped into me!!!" Wrong answer. You spilled the coffee because there was coffee in your cup. Had there been tea in the cup, you would have spilled tea. *Whatever is inside the cup is what will spill out.* Therefore, when life comes along and shakes you (which WILL happen), whatever is inside you will come out. It's easy to fake it, until you get rattled. *So we have to ask ourselves... “what's in my cup?"* When life gets tough, what spills over? Joy, gratefulness, peace and humility? Anger, bitterness, harsh words and reactions? Life provides the cup, YOU choose how to fill it. Today let's work towards filling our cups with gratitude, forgiveness, joy, words of affirmation


12, 17



You always have a choice. Always.


15, 19, 21



Put down your phone and be in the moment. Teach this. Model this.


7



Plan a few screen-free weekends every year. (Reticket until 16.)


7



Talk about how choices become habits. Habits can become addictions. Describe how pathways are literally dug into the brain and it's very hard to change them once those paths are made.


13-16



Sometimes it’s easier to describe what a thing is *not* than to describe what it is.


14, 21



Choose to love despite the rage. See poem by Lucas Jones “ I Will Teach My Sons to be Dangerous Men.”


12, 14, 16, 19, 21



Major regret: focusing too much on being liked (or loved.) You can’t *make* anyone love you. Some people just won’t like you… that’s okay. Make yourself proud. Do YOUR thing. Spend time on what matters to you.


14, 21



Pretty much everything boils down to looking for love, its many forms. Look in good (creative) places. Avoid looking for love in bad (destructive) places.


15, 17, 19, 21



Watch Ken Burns’ “The US and the holocaust.”


17



The moment you lose your cool, you’ve lost.


12,13, 14, 15, 16, 21



Google the “tea metaphor” for a discussion about consent.


17



You’re not going to be everyone’s cup of tea. What’s something worth being hated for?


11, 14, 17, 21



That trope “everything happens for a reason” is, I think, b.s. But I absolutely agree that you can find meaning in anything good or bad.


17



Talk to people like they belong and are valued exactly as they are in that moment.


12-14, 21



If you witness a moment of vulnerability in someone, keep it to yourself. Be respectful of people's dignity.


14-18



Chemistry is not the same thing as compatibility.


16, 19, 21



When driving in the car with your kids, ask them to count motorcycles, cyclists, pedestrians. Prize to the highest count! This will train them to be on the lookout for them.


10



You are never too old to play in the snow.


16



Checkout Bedtime Math app. It’s a tool to make math fun.


5



If your car is overheating turn on the heat full blast. It draws heat off the engine.


16



Keep stuff on hand for guests. Be ready to be a good host / hostess at any moment.


16-21