First time blogger...yeh! I did it - was a bit nervous about doing this, but here it is! I am first and formost a mom - I do a lot of other things, but I like to think my kids come first.

So, the goal of my blog is to share ways that I've filled my children's love cup, share how they fill mine (i.e., brag about my kids) and to hear how you have used this idea of filling someone's love cup to make this world a better place.

How's Your Love Cup? What! What do you mean how's my love cup? OK, let me explain. We all have a love cup and when it's full, life is good. We're motivated, we're excited about tomorrow, we do our best, we have peace, we smile, we're nice, we share.

When it's empty, we're not so happy or fun to be around. We're not motivated, we do the absolute minimum, we might feel jealous, we're rude, we're inpatient, and we might even be critical of others or throw temper tantrums. (I know, I know, this doesn't happen too often, and not to us.)

My oldest son was 5 years old when I first explained this to him. I then asked him, "So, how's your love cup?" He bent down, touched his ankle and said, "down to here...". I picked him up and told him his love cup was empty and it needed filling up with hugs and kisses. After about a minute, I asked again and with a mischievious look, he pointed to his stomach and said, "now it's to here". I told him it was still too low, that it needed to be filled up more. After about another minute, I asked again and this time it was up to his neck.

I point out the 1 minute, because that is literally how long it takes. 1-2 minutes and you're looking at someone with a full love cup. Many times, we or our children are running around on empty and we don't even know what's wrong. And as know, children, and we (although we would never admit it) will do whatever it takes to get our attention (attention = love in their mind). When they are 2 or 3 years olds, this happens most often in the form of a temper tantrum. My challenge to you is to be remembered for filling their love cup, not for emptying it. Pick that kid up and start hugging and kissing them and tell them you're filling their love cup, that you hadn't realized it was empty! They will love it, you will love it and you'll see it's like magic.