I want to be the kind of mom who . . .

Well, it's been much too long since I've done one of these posts so let's start the New Year off right!

I want to be the kind of mom who practices random acts of kindness with my kids, like this mom who likes to be an anonymous elf every December and leaves a mix CD of her favorite Christmas songs and $5.00 gift certificates in the public with little notes that say, "Psssst! If you found this, it's yours to keep, no strings attached. Merry Christmas!"
I want to be the kind of mom that makes it fun for my kids to make good choices. I loved this post on Stephmodo, when she and her husband wrote of several coupons for fun treats and experiences and let their kids choose to trade in their Halloween candy for coupons like "Stay up 30 minutes after bedtime", "Hike up the Canyon with Dad" or "Choose a special drink at the grocery store". Probably all things they'd be happy to indulge once in a while anyway, and a great way to provide special one-on-one time. Brilliant!

When I first started working full time, one of my coworkers brought in a huge bowl with all of his kids' Halloween candy, and I felt so sad for his kids, but now that I'm a mom, I'm tempted to do the same thing. This really seems like a great solution to me, and the best part is, it leaves the kids to decide whether or not to give up their candy.
I want to be the kind of mom who creates fun/unusual family traditions that my family will love and my kids will one day want to continue with their own families. I think I've already mentioned my love of surprise balls, so of course, I loved this post about a Grandma who saves up tiny treasures all year and makes a Santa surprise ball for each of her grandkids every Christmas. It makes me want to start stocking up on tiny treasures now (Is there a Cake decorating store in Salt Lake?)
The little kids had surprises like these and the teenagers had things like dollar bills and coins so everyone loves them!

I also loved this post about a mom who puts away all the Christmas ornaments and decorates the tree after the kids are in bed on New Year's Eve so they wake up and run down to find a tree covered in confetti and stuffed with crackers and supplies to have their own early morning New Year's Day party.

I want to be the kind of mom who makes everything in life an adventure. Have you heard of Harriet Russell? She's an illustrator who mailed herself 130 letters over the course of a year with the addresses in puzzle form (anagrams, mirror writing, dot-to-dot, colorblindness tests, even a drawing of a map with no address), and believe it or not, all but ten of them made it back to her. She has a book about them that I can't wait to pick up at the library. I wonder if the same thing would work in the US.

I want to be the kind of mom who makes our house the favorite place for our kids and their friends to hang out. I love this post about a mom who hosts Free Cookie Friday the first Friday of every month and invites all the neighborhood kids and parents to stop by for a cookie on the way home from school. What a great way to become familiar with everyone in the neighborhood.
Plus, let's be honest, those cookies look really delicious!