Fire Prevention Week

In honor of Fire Prevention Week and all the men and women who are essential to educating our families about fire and burn prevention, Inspired By Family would like to send out a HUGE thanks to Tom Coakley of Western States Fire Protection Company and the Fire and Life Safety Educators of Colorado!

Thanks to their efforts, families attending the Colorado Rockies game in Denver on September 12, 2008 (Fire Fighter Appreciation Night) received a Brecker Bunny fire safety book! President of the Fire and Life Safety Educators of Colorado, Tracey Taylor, and her crew handed out books from the fire trucks parked on Blake Street. Western States Fire Protection was kind enough to help fund these books for the kids.

We are so grateful for the many friends we have found to help us share our safety messages!

Inspired By Listening

The following came home with my first grader the other day…and I can hardly wait to share. It is so simple, yet so easy to forget.

Every part of our body helps us listen.

- We hear sounds with our EARS.
- We think and decide with our MINDS.
- We keep our ARMS AND LEGS quiet and still when someone is talking with us.
- We move our BODY to face the person who is talking to us.
- We let our FEELINGS help us listen and care about what we hear.
- We keep our VOICES still when someone is talking, but then we answer back and talk when they are done.

I had to stop and reevaluate my own listening skills. How well am I modeling this to my kids? We all say we are good listeners, but are we? Are we truly present with our whole bodies? I am going to challenge myself to do better…for my friends, my family, but most of all for my little first grader…who taught his mom a thing or two this week.

Inspired By Compassion

I want to take this opportunity to share another story.

Two years ago, I went to Toys 'R Us with a friend - living in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, that means over an hour drive to Appleton, Wisconsin. At the time I would have had a five, three and one year old. At this particular Toys 'R Us, they used to have an indoor playground and parents would let their kids romp around on rainy days.

So…a few minutes in, I discover my middle child is going to have a rough day…not sure why, but all the sudden he was aggressive, crabby and fairly unreasonable. His older brother of course decided to make matters worse and then the one year old began to cry. Then the middle child has diarrhea…not once, but twice. My hair in my eyes, my face flushed and my under arms sweating, I decided to not care what others were thinking…although I truly was mortified and felt the chaos was a reflection of my obviously bad parenting, and rushed one child to the bathroom after putting the other two in time out and having my friend supervise. I came back after clean up in bathroom one, and talked to the other two kids about gentleness and kindness, packed them up and got ready to head out for the hour and a half drive home.

And then it happened…bless her heart…a mother I had never met came up to me and said, “Wow, you are such a good mom. So many people would have lost it and you really held it together and got your kids back on track. Way to go!” I literally started to cry. The release was so thoroughly cleansing. What we sometimes forget when we look at parents and judge them and their kids is that we all face challenges. My child, we later found out, has gluten and lactose allergies, double vision and 0 (zero) depth perception…think that changes the way he sees the world?

It is human nature to judge others and feel judged, but can you imagine what would happen if we all had a little more compassion, like that mom in Toys 'R Us? I have since tried to give compliments to other moms and dads out in public as often as I can…because I know what it feels like to need that little extra bit of encouragement. I have been surprised by the number of parents who turn around and say thank you because their child has autism or AD/HD or allergies or just lost a person in their life. The point is…we don’t know what is going on in other’s lives…so let’s challenge ourselves to have compassion first.

Challenge of the month: When you find yourself starting to judge others negatively, take a breath, think compassionately and find something kind to say instead.

Inspired By Challenges

AD/HD Awareness Week finishes tomorrow. This year it ran from September 14th – 20th. I found myself really thinking this week about all the underlying challenges we all face in our life. When Dr. Pam and I first wrote Little Jake Learns to Stop, it was with the mission of helping kids and families coping with AD/HD learn new strategies and to give form to some of the everyday difficulties children with AD/HD face. We received resounding approval for our depiction of AD/HD and several thank you notes from parents who had simply forgotten to recognize the determination their children with AD/HD have everyday just to accomplish some of the “simple” things. It was a reminder to many to have patience and use compassion first.

My core belief, my true mission, and Michelle’s too, is to make sure as a global community we recognize that Every Kid Shines…every child is a gift. And sometimes…the lessons they bring aren’t for them. We have to be open to the possibility that it is us, the parent, the teacher, the friend - that needs to change and grow.

Inspired By the “Rockies”

Michelle and I just got back from the International Association of Fire Chiefs Fire-Rescue International (FRI) conference in Denver. It was wonderful we were inspired on so many fronts. Here are some ways the Rockies inspired us…

1. First, the picture above is from the Colorado Rockies Baseball game…two outs, bases loaded, full count and the Arizona Diamondbacks ground out to give the Rockies the win. Whew, so much drama, but so inspiring. We sat amongst fire fighters from all over the country and enjoyed the Rockies Baseball in the foreground and the Rocky Mountains in the background. It doesn’t get any better than that!

2. The day after the big game, Michelle and I met a fabulous mom named Bridget Lane. Check out her website: http://www.onemomonamission.org/. She is “One Mom on a Mission” AND she makes the best gluten free cookies ever! My Jakey is gluten intolerant, so Bridget’s baking skills are right up our family’s alley! Please read more about her, her company and her mission. We look forward to partnering with her in the future.

3. The next two days, Michelle and I visited with old friends (we both used to live in Colorado) and made new ones at the conference. We had the opportunity to sign and read books at the Children’s Kiosk. It was a pleasure to talk to so many fire chiefs, personnel and spouses, all just as passionate about the safety of our families.

4. The last day we were both there, Sunday…was plain wonderful. We discussed our future hopes and dreams for Inspired By Family, as well as our own families. We discussed the ways in which we can better serve our communities both locally and globally. We will be announcing several new products and initiatives in the upcoming months…so stay tuned!

5. One of the most important things we discussed was balance…and how to get it. One of our upcoming initiatives will be focusing on the One Mom Making a Difference brand and how everyone, but especially mothers, can achieve the balance they and their children need. This will be a very personal journey for both Michelle and I and we hope you will join in our blogs and discussions. We will let you know our successes and failures on the way to finding that magic word “balance”…and as always…we look for you to share your wisdom…and laughter!

With that…our inspiring Rockies journey was over, but not soon forgotten. Today and everyday my hope for you is that you live…inspired!

Inspired by Courage

What is your personal brand?

What is your brand worth?

Do you live your brand everyday?

These are just some of the questions that over 40 courageous teens asked themselves this past week at the Inner Wisconsin Teen Leadership Institute. This is my third year of facilitating camp, and every year I am more and more honored to be in the presence of some amazing and courageous teens.

You might wonder why I call them courageous…all they have to do is show up to camp…right? They are asked to do so much more! Day one they were asked to truly take a look at every part of themselves, internally and externally…to research what others think about them, to look at how they live their lives and the choices they make and decide if they are truly living lives of integrity. They were challenged to live their values each and every day, with every choice and every relationship. How many of us do that as adults?

The second day, teens were asked to look at problems facing our community such as underage drinking, prescription drug abuse, unsafe celebration around prom and graduation times and parent involvement. They went through the steps of a true PR Campaign and identified real activities and steps to make changes in their communities.

On Day 3, they presented these ideas in a PowerPoint to community leaders including coalition leaders, mayors, superintendents, parents, principals and law enforcement. These teen leaders will now spend the next year putting their ideas into actions and programs. They will be asked to have the courage to Speak Up! To go against the norm. To stick to their beliefs. To stand up and be counted.

So, when you were 14-18, what did you do during your summers? I don’t know about you, but I sure wasn’t rocking my community like this! These kids…they inspire me! Are you inspired by their courage? If so, tell us about it! Give the kids some positive encouragement!

Inspired by Community

[Ya'll don't usually hear from me, but I'm here...It's Michelle from the southern IBF office!]

This past weekend was the 25th Annual All Children's Hospital Telethon here in St. Petersburg, FL. It's a 3 day event and is a big - HUGE - deal here. Despite a very poor article about fundraising events by a reporter at the St. Petersburg Times who clearly did not do her research, the telethon was a great success. Grand total raised: $4.2M!

While the funds raised are amazing ($4.2M is nothing to sneeze at!) and will help build the new ACH Hospital currently under construction, I'm astounded by the number of people that join together to make this "thing" work. There are the folks at the Hospital's Foundation - people that work on this all year, every year and are the cream of the crop to say the least; local news anchors that host the actual telethon; restaurant owners/workers that put in hours and hours at the Taste of Pinellas; and countless volunteers for various activities that show up at crazy times of the day ready to work. Why? Why do all these people come together when they could be out enjoying the year-long summer we have here in FL? For kids. Plain and simple. I've never seen so many people come together for one simple purpose...it's invigorating...and, dare I say, INSPIRING!

For me, it's something my parents did and I grew up being a part of. As a second generation Guild member, I went on a tour of ACH 7 years ago and could hardly contain myself as we walked through the Neonatal Intensive care unit. Our 8 local Guilds are raising money specifically for the new NICU in the new hospital.

If you ever take a tour of your local children's hospital you'll understand why I do this (it'll take all of a nano-second) in what little spare time there is in our lives.

I challenge you to:

• Tour your local children's hospital...go on - JUST DO IT!
• If you have kids, set a good example - like my parents did- and volunteer someplace that tugs at your heartstrings (Volunteer Match is a good place to start).
• Just pay it forward in any way you can...it's going to make you feel good...and let me know when you do.