Creative Mother’s Day message ideas for older kids

Are you a teacher, dad, grandparent–someone who will coach children in their Mother’s Day messages and gifts? Here are some fresh ideas to get them started on their messages.

Young children may touch mom’s heart with their crayon-drawn cards….

….but older children can begin to venture outside the box  of “Thanks for all you do for me” into specific actions mom does. Just two or three of them will communicate a deeper level of appreciation perhaps.

Older children and teens can begin to articulate specific qualities, character, personality traits and attitudes.

These creative sentences may spark children’s short messages affirming the spirit of their mother. I like these ideas offered by Keely Chace :

  • You’re the glue that holds us together.
  • I hope you know how much I admire the woman you are.
  • You’ve taught me so much without saying a word.
  • Your love has shaped me in lasting ways.
  • You are the heart and soul of our family. I love you.
  • For all you’ve gone through, all you are and all the love you share.
  • You’re the best listener I could ever ask for.
  • You don’t just give love, you are love. And I love you so much, too!
  • There’s simply no one else like you. I feel so blessed.
  • Creative, generous and fun–that’s you. [or whatever qualities fit her]

And for stepmom (or mother figure):

  • Thank you for being such an important person in my life. You’re someone I can tell anything and ask anything.
  • I wanted to recognize you on Mother’s Day for being such a caring and positive influence in my life.
  • I look up to you more than you know.
  • You’re an amazing women I admire, appreciate and love.

Tweetable: Creative ideas for Mother’s Day messages beyond “Thanks for all you do for me.” Click to Tweet

 

Show children our common ground at Christmas

Affan Abdullah is a Muslim American. He doesn’t celebrate Christmas or Hanukkah. He feels, however, that we can find basic common ground and beliefs, no matter our faith or non-faith.*  What is this common ground?

candlesWe offer each other holiday wishes, often along these lines:

  • A wish that we all will live up to the values the holidays represent, not just talk about them.
  • A wish that we will live into the spirit of the season, helping those who need it and sharing with others from whatever we have.

What is the spirit of Christmas?

  • elem-boy-drawingFor children old enough to recognize that difficulties, trouble and disappointments have entered their lives, Christmas offers hope. Tradition records that Jesus described humanity as filled with both the characteristics of God and with self-defeating tendencies. Christmas brings the hope that good will overcome the bad, and Jesus laid out his way of doing that.
  • The need for community and fellowship. Jan Sutton sees the weeks of festivities and reunions as a way to hold communities together. She points out that there is nothing religious about giving and generosity.*
  • Spiritual intensity. Marianne Williamson, herself a non-Christian offer this: “One doesn’t have to be a Christian to appreciate the fact that Jesus is a magnificent spiritual force. Jesus gives to Christmas its spiritual intensity, hidden behind all the… sounds of the season.”

“Because no words are as powerful as our human lives.” (Scott Korb)

We can respect the powerful life of Jesus as a figure of peace and authentic justice….. Jesus as someone who fed the poor and comforted the grieving. Christians remind themselves of the good work Jesus began and of his call to do them to do likewise.

Tweetable: Christmas brings hope to children and all of us that the good will overcome the bad. Click to Tweet

Children need to know there are so many ways spirituality fosters community, not division and strife. Click to Tweet

*USA Today, 12/21/14