You work wonders every day.
When was the last time you thought of all the things you are doing right as a parent?
There are a lot of parents who dwell on all of the things they could be doing better, and while healthy awareness of how we can be improving, especially in parenting, is important, it is also vitally important that we acknowledge the things we are doing right.
In my life, I think I celebrate the minor victories as much as the major ones. For instance, when I had my first child, finding a moment to take a shower during the day was as exciting to me as running a marathon. These days, grocery shopping with the kids and leaving with everything on my list is just as big of a feat as when we travel halfway around the world with the boys.
Parenting is hard sometimes – that doesn’t mean it isn’t wonderful, fulfilling, and that having those people in your life and getting to be a part of helping them grow into adulthood isn’t any less special than if it was smooth sailing all the time. In fact, I think that the difficulties and trials we face as parents are part of what makes being a parent so amazing.
With any relationship, there is going to be conflict because we are human. We learn, evolve and change with other people in our relationships because we are a social species. What is so amazing (and sometimes scary) about parenting is that we get to do all of that and start having an influence right at the beginning (or early on) in a human’s life.
What is the saying? Smooth seas never made for skilled sailors? Well, it’s true. So, understand there will be trials and hardships that come with parenting, accept that you will make mistakes (and when you make a mistake- adjust and move forward), and most of all – rejoice and focus on the things you are doing right as a parent. They grow up so fast- don’t waste your time with worry.
Now here is the fun part of this post-
I recently teamed up with Microsoft to help celebrate the launch of their Office 365 Work Wonders Campaign.
The winner will receive a Microsoft Surface 2: 
(My husband is so disappointed he can’t enter!)
Office just makes life easier for people constantly on the go.
Because Office 365 is powered by the cloud I can write my grocery list on my tablet in bed or in the bath at night- and without thinking about bringing anything, I’ll be at the grocery store and pull up the list on my phone. Applications are all connected and can be accessed anywhere.
How to enter:
What Microsoft is asking me to do is help celebrate how you work wonders in your life. Since our readership consists of primarily parents, then that commonality is what we will focus on for this contest.
Choose a photo representing how you work wonders as a parent.
So, how do you work wonders as a parent? Just as we discussed at the beginning of the article, whether it be small victories in daily life or large accomplishments – we want celebrate all aspects of positive parenting. Here is an example- 
To submit:
Use Twitter or Instagram with the hashtags #workwonders and #contest. Don’t forget to include my Twitter or Instagram handle – Twitter: @MsJamieLynne Instagram: JGrumet
During this contest your photos will be appearing in Microsoft Office’s new Work Wonders microsite– So be sure to head over there and check out how the contest is progressing.
On June 9, 2014 I will be announcing the winner.
The winner will be chosen based on creativity/originality, quality, and fit to contest theme.
Good Luck!
Additional Information: – NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Legal residents of the 50 United States (D.C.), 13 years or older. Enter Promotion by: 6/2/14. To enter and for Official Rules, including prize description, visit http://bit.ly/1od3jSs Void where prohibited
