January is National Soup Month, and to celebrate we wanted to give you some different soup recipes that you can try out. For our Friday Favorites, The Morning Thing hosts share their favorite soup recipes.
Click HERE to hear from the hosts or click the link below.
Today, The Morning Thing shared some encouragement to help you start the first full week of 2026.
Here are some great ideas from imom.com to help your family stay strong and stay connected in the new year. Click HERE to see the full article from Author, Nancy Jergins.
Nancy Jergins – Educator and journalist Nancy Jergins is the author of Wise Words Mom: What to Say to Raise Kids Who Feel Accepted, Confident and Loved, an Amazon Top New Release in Motherhood, and an Amazon Top 50 Selection in One-Hour Reads. Nancy also worked on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., and spent many years as a TV news reporter and anchor.
12 Family Goals for the New Year
Choose one goal for every month. You can keep it simple and just put up a list with the goals, or you can have a family celebration at the start of each month to kick off that month’s goal and get input from your kids. Here are 12 family goals to achieve together this year.
1. Cooking
Most moms want their kids to learn how to cook before they move out so they’re able to take care of themselves when they’re on their own. For this goal, assign each child a meal to prepare for the family. For younger kids, it can be breakfast or lunch. Older kids can cook dinner.
2. Service
Meet as a family to come up with a way to help others. Let the kids have a say in where you give your time. You can spur them along by asking who in the neighborhood, at church, or in the community needs a helping hand.
You can use our share, save, spend printable to kick off this month’s goal. For older kids, consider explaining the financial basics of running a family. You can use beans to show how much goes into each category—housing, cars, food, insurance. It might finally make sense why you keep yelling for them to turn off the lights when they leave the room. This is a family goal that you could continue for more than a month, as your kids will love to see their wallets, savings, and giving funds grow.
4. Poetry
Don’t laugh! Poetry can enhance your family life by showing how words can help us express emotions. You can make this fun and funny. Have your husband read a love poem by Emily Dickenson or look up some quirky poems by Shel Silverstein for your kids.
5. A Fast
Fasting isn’t just about food, although you could try that, too. Consider what has a little too much presence in your family’s life. Electronics after dinner? Going out to eat? Sweets? Go without it for a month and see how the fast frees up time, makes you feel healthier, or helps your budget.
6. Kindness
Make your family goal to say one kind thing to each other every day. At first, it will feel hokey. But pretty soon, you’ll see that it really does encourage more kindness.
7. Reading
If you can get your kids to read for an hour a day, studies show their vocabulary and comprehension will be off the charts. That’s the science behind this family goal, but it can be fun, too. Choose one book to read aloud as a family, or have your kids read independently, and then meet at the end of the week to talk about the chapters they read. Entice them to read by eating foods related to the book when you have your mini book club gathering.
8. Movement
This month, focus your family goal on moving. Go for a walk as a family after dinner or on the weekends. Play doubles tennis (there are large tennis balls that slow down play for younger kids) or make a circle and do jumping jacks facing each other.
9. Faith
Explore faith if it’s not already a part of your life. Since studies show that attending faith services strengthens families, visit a church. If your family already practices a faith, add another element like daily reading or nightly prayer. Unsure about how to shape your family’s faith? These ideas can help.
10. Thankfulness
Research shows that when we show thanks to others, it improves our overall happiness. This is a great skill to teach children. They can use this to help themselves through tough times when they’re out on their own. A fun family goal would be to write one thank you note per day and pop it in the mail. Take turns writing the note. (This doesn’t have to be all on you, Mom!)
11. Online Awareness
It would be easy to make this month about turning off all the devices. Instead, use it to teach your family about being aware of how much time they spend looking at screens. You can have everyone keep track of their screen use for a day or a week. Don’t be afraid to try a no-electronics day or two.
12. A New Skill
What will it be? Knitting? Juggling? Shooting 10 free throws in a row? Everyone chooses a skill and works on it throughout the month. At the end of the month, you can have a skills showcase.
If your house is full of kids with extra energy and you’re feeling the pressure of a long holiday to-do list, you’re not alone.
The Christmas season can be joyful, but it can also be overwhelming when it feels like everything is on your shoulders.
That’s why iMOM.com suggests letting kids be part of the holiday prep. With simple, age-appropriate tasks, kids get to contribute, feel proud of their role, and help make Christmas meaningful — and parents get a little breathing room along the way.
Earlier on The Morning Thing Monday, we shared a list of holiday helper ideas broken down by age to make it easy to get everyone involved.
Click HERE to see the full list from iMOM.com
December can feel overwhelming for families. Gifts to buy and wrap, cards to send, cookies to bake, houses to clean, decorations to hang, and recitals to attend—just when one task is finished, another takes its place.
This season, consider moving something down the list and adding one simple but powerful practice: Christmas prayer. Taking time to pray—daily or even weekly—can help you stay focused on what truly matters. Prayer brings peace, eases stress, and shifts the focus away from perfection and toward joy.
The iMOM Christmas Prayers is designed to help you do just that. Each prayer centers on meaningful themes like joy, peace, and hope, paired with a Bible verse that connects those words to the life of Jesus. It’s a gentle reminder of the gifts we already have—today and every day.
These prayers are perfect for kids, too, and come in three beautifully designed options. If you’re looking for ways to pray together as a family, check out iMOM’s 10 Ways to Teach Your Child to Pray for simple, encouraging ideas.
Click HERE to see the complete list from iMOM!
Today on The Morning Thing, Marcy and Xander explored some great ways to take Thanksgiving to the next level! These are tips that will make you and your family love the holiday even more.
Some of our favorites:
To view the full list click HERE! You won’t regret it!
Today, The Morning Thing shared some small ways to make life simpler. These tips are from The Positivity Blog. They remind us that life does NOT have to be so hard.
See the full list of 23 small ways to make life simpler HERE.
Here are some of our favorites:
When stressed, lost in a problem (or a mistake) or the past or future in your mind breathe with your belly for two minutes and just focus on the air going in and out.
These deep breaths will calm your body down and bring your mind back into the present moment again.
You’ll get better results and feel better and less stressed while doing those things.
Use your mind for better things than remembering what to do. And the mind is often like a leaky bucket.
So write down all your great ideas, insights and thoughts before they go missing somewhere and add what you need to do to a to-do list.
It will only get you stuck and drain your self-esteem.
Go for good enough instead and when you are there you are done. Get things all the way to done this way and then move on to the next thing.
Then you don’t have to get stressed out by that in morning and you are less likely to forget something.
Questions like:
If everything has its own place then it is whole lot easier to keep your home reasonably ordered and decluttered from day to day.
This also helps you with your inner stillness as the outer environment affects how you feel on the inside.
I tend to write emails containing only a few sentences, usually between one and five. If you focus on keeping it short and focused then you’ll probably discover that this is a good solution in most cases.
Reading minds is hard. So, instead ask questions and communicate.
This will help you to minimize unnecessary conflicts, misunderstandings, negativity and waste of time and energy.
I check my email inboxes, blog statistics, my online earnings, Twitter and Facebook just once a day.
I combine all that checking into one small daily ritual at the end of my workday so I don’t slip and go checking it more during the day and waste my energy and attention.
We got to talk with Amy Seward, who is the Deputy Director of the KCEMA! In honor of it being National Preparedness Month, Amy wanted to tell us why and how we should be preparing for disasters. She also details her role, what they do, and how you can stay connected!
For more information on National Preparedness Month, click HERE!
Click HERE if you want to know more about the Knox County Emergency Management Agency!
However, it would make life a lot easier right?
Life hacks are basically clever tips or tricks that make everyday tasks easier and help you manage your time better. They’re all about making life run a little more smoothly.
On the Morning Thing Thursday, Eric shared a number of lifehacks that don’t require memorizing a Tik Tok, Reel or watching a 500 step video on YouTube. 😊
Clip them to the edge of your desk and thread cables through the metal arms to keep them tangle-free and within reach.
Placing a wooden spoon across a boiling pot prevents it from boiling over. The spoon breaks the surface tension and keeps the foam down
Slip a dryer sheet into your shoes, suitcase, or gym bag to keep them smelling fresh.
Click HERE for more life hacks!
It’s the time of year that a lot of people dread. Spring Cleaning.
On the Morning Thing Monday, Marcy shared tips on how to get motivated and stick with cleaning.
Some of tips include:
• Clean in the Morning
• Set a Schedule
• Avoid Distractions
• Reward Yourself
Click HERE for more tips.
April is Stress Awareness Month. This is a time for us to evaluate the stress in our lives and find ways to relieve the negative impact it can have on our life.
The Cleveland Clinic has 20 different ways to relieve stress. They report that lengthy exposure to stress may lead to mental health difficulties like anxiety and depression or increased physical health problems such as cardiovascular disease and irritable bowel syndrome.
Click HERE to see the complete list of 20 ways you can fight stress!
Here are some of our favorites:
Rise and Shine 