Striking Family Balance During a Busy Time of Year - $100 Visa Card Giveaway

If you have visited here more than a couple times, you probably know that I have two teenage daughters (well, technically just one, but my 12 year old will be 13 very soon).  I truly LOVE having teenagers.  I didn't think I would - when my girls were toddlers I seriously feared them becoming teens.  But I am here to tell you, you grow into it, you know your children and find that they turn into really amazing people who you really like to hang out with - that is, when they want to hang out with you!  And I know that not everyone has this experience; the teen years can go sideways quick and provide all sorts of challenges and heartbreak... I pray that my girls avoid all the bad stuff, but am aware that they may not… but so far, so good. What no one warned me about when I was balancing playdates, sippy cups and Elmo during those toddler years was just how much BUSIER the teen years are!  I spend an exorbitant amount of time in my car taking my active girls to school, soccer, volleyball and theatre classes.  Add in their social engagements and it could make for one hectic family schedule.   Hectic is not a space I enjoy occupying and I loathe feeling like the schedule is controlling our family… so I really believe that my role as a momma at this stage of the game is to provide balance in my girls lives...

The American Beverage Association has a new joint effort called Mixify.  Mixify is all about balance. Its mission is to inspire teens to find a balanced mix of food, drinks and physical activities every day in ways that are totally unique to them because everyone, every family, and every day is different. 

The ABA asked me to share what balance means to our family: 

1. Balancing time means that my girls enjoy some 'downtime' - time to be with themselves, our family or friends.  I like this time to be as unstructured as possible and involve as little technology as possible. I have always felt that too many structured activities could contribute my girls becoming people who just can't think creatively or enjoy stillness and quiet.

2.  Balancing our nutrition.  I plan our family meals every Sunday so we know that we will be eating healthy, balanced meals in the midst of whatever activities we have going on in our week.  I plan THREE meals and cook extra so we always have leftovers.  My plan assumes that we will likely go out to dinner at our favorite neighborhood brewpub or Mexican place so eating healthy meals at home most of the week provides the necessary balance to a fun night out. 

3.  Balancing my girls' activities.  There are a lot of debates about over-scheduling our children.  I fall on the more conservative side of this debate.  My oldest daughter has always been really active and up for signing up for any and all activities or trying any sport.  My younger daughter is quite the opposite.  She is more introverted and enjoys more creative pursuits. Besides playing volleyball, she really is not crazy about playing sports.  At 16 years old now, my active girl plays competitive soccer on a National Champion team and travels all over the U.S. to soccer tournaments.  She practices four nights per week and, in addition, does fitness conditioning at a gym.  She is also an 'A' student.  Last year, when she was a freshman in high school she really wanted to play high school lacrosse in the spring, in addition to keeping up with her soccer schedule.  We allowed her play.  Unfortunately, we all learned a lot about balance last spring, and it wasn't all good. This time of year leads to particularly busy schedules with lots of fun holiday activities added to the calendar.  Having some strategies on how we manage our time and nutrition during a season where the scales can be tipped {no pun intended!} toward over-indulgence is how our family strikes a healthy balance!

As part of this sponsored post, you have the opportunity to enter a BlogHer giveaway for a $100 Visa gift card!  To enter for a chance to win, please leave me a comment that answers ONE of the following questions:

• What do you do to keep YOUR family balanced?
• When it comes to achieving a balanced lifestyle, what do you struggle with?
• What's your ideal balance for your family?

"Coke, Dr Pepper and Pepsi understand that getting a balanced mix of foods, drinks and physical activities for your family isn’t always easy. That’s why they’re coming together for the first time ever to talk to teens about balancing what they eat and drink with what they do. With tools to help teens get active and information to help them think about when they’ve had too much, or maybe when it’s time for a treat—America’s beverage companies are supporting our efforts to find a balanced mix that works for our families.”

Visit www.DeliveringChoices.org to learn more about Mixify, or visit the www.MyMixify.com website for teens. You can also follow ABA Delivers on Twitter and Facebook to learn about Mixify and all the other efforts America’s Beverage Companies are undertaking to help families achieve balance.

Sweepstakes Rules:
No duplicate comments.
You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:

1. Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
2. Tweet (public message) about this promotion; including exactly the following unique term in your tweet message: “#SweepstakesEntry”; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post
3. Blog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post
4. For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.

This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. The notification email will come directly from BlogHer via the sweeps@blogher email address. You will have 72 hours to respond; otherwise a new winner will be selected.
The Official Rules are available here.
This sweepstakes runs from 12/9/14 – 12/24/14.
Be sure to visit the American Beverage Association brand page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ posts!