How do you know that you need the Focused Moms Challenge?  When your eleven year old daughter is trying to talk to you and she says, “Mother, give me your cell phone.  Focus!”  A wake up call isn’t it?  Our toddlers and young children don’t know how to express that to us, but our older kiddos sure do!

I can’t wait for the Focused Moms Challenge to start on Monday.  With a community of us working together to become more alert and mindful of our parenting, we have the potential to impact a whole generation of children!  And dads, teachers, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and friends, you can do the challenge, too.  Everyone is welcome here (and needed for support and encouragement along the way).

While we’re gearing up for the start of the challenge, I’ve got two weekend assignments for you.  They’re easy, don’t worry!

1.  Do what you can to publicize this event like crazy.  While I am so excited to have each and every one of you participating, wouldn’t it be great if we could make a difference in the lives of hundreds or even thousands of families?  And the more people that start the challenge from the beginning the better.  To help, I’ve made the challenge into a Facebook Event.  Invite all of your FB friends, post it on your wall, whatever, just help spread the word.  If you’re on Twitter, tweet about the challenge and invite your followers to participate.  This is one of those things that you just don’t want to keep to yourself!

2.  And next, take some time to think about your day to day life.  What’s the one thing that distracts you the most when you’re parenting?  For me, it’s my smart phone.  No doubt.  The laptop is a close second.  What about you?  It could be your dvr, your ipad, or your kindle, but it doesn’t even have to be electronic.  You could be distracted by the laundry (I wish I was distracted by the laundry, then it might actually be getting done!) or by the mountain of bills that need to be paid.  Or your social life could be distracting you from parenting.  It could even be your volunteer work.  Each person has their own distractions, and the faster we identify what they are, the easier it will be to begin to overcome them.

Everyone have a great weekend, and I look forward to seeing you all back here on Monday for our first challenge!

PS – I promise that I will not make anyone give up their favorite distraction in this challenge.  It’s all about moderation here at the Focused Moms Challenge, this is not a just say no program!  Just thought I’d throw that out there in case you were worried that your participation meant that we were going to have to unplug your tv or something!