My daughter had just had her first birthday party and I wanted to post a blog so that I could write about the party rather than just posting pictures on Facebook. So I started this blog. When I started this blog I really wasn’t sure what I would be writing about or how often I’d be writing. I figured at the very least it would be about our family and at the most I could tie in my love of creating new and fun family traditions. Every time we get together for the holidays my aunt says, “I keep telling my kids that we’re the coolest family on the block.” We really do have a lot of fun together. I figured “Coolest Family on the Block” would tie together the family stuff along with the traditions stuff. I also hoped that the name would be different and fun enough to catch people’s interest.

I don’t care if our family is the coolest one on the block. I don’t care if we have the nicest car or the newest phone or the latest video game equipment. I don’t care if anyone else thinks that we’re cool (even though we are, so if they don’t think so then they’re totally jealous 😉 ).
What I do care about is that my kids think that we’re the coolest family on the block. I want our kids to want to spend time at home with the family. I want them to be excited about Family Fun Night, Movie Night, or Pizza Night. I want them to be engaged and interactive at the dinner table instead of absorbed with their cell phone. I want them to learn while they have fun and have fun while they learn. I want them to look forward to the time that we spend together. I want them to be anxious about birthdays and holidays, not because they get gifts, but because we go out of our way to celebrate and to teach them about giving to others.

It’s not about being their friend. It’s not about being the “cool mom” that lets them do whatever they want and give them whatever they ask for. But it is about realizing that just because we’re parents, just because we’re responsible for discipline, just because there are dishes to be done and bills to be paid…doesn’t mean that we can’t have good clean fun with our kids!

It doesn’t come easy to every parent. It’s hard for some to let the dishes sit to play another game of Candyland, or to take the freshly washed bed clothes off of the bed to make a tent in the living room, or to encourage the kids to make mudpies and dance in the rain, or to say yes to ice cream for breakfast once in awhile.

I believe if I make the effort to spend quality time with my kids, if I’m not afraid to get a little silly or a little dirty, and if I help make them feel special and loved…my kids will think that we are definitely the coolest family on the block!

I don’t want to have the coolest family on the block…I want every family to have the coolest family on the block.

So tell me…how can I help your family?
(Or are you already cool? 😉 )