I had the privilege of meeting Becky at a
Tiffany Peterson workshop October of 2013. I felt her enthusiasm for life and passion for people
immediately. That was even before
I heard anything about her amazing and influential life.
SMT: Hello Becky, thank you for shareing this
time with me. What would you say are your goal as a mother now with the added
media interest over your husbands example of "modest is hottest"?
Goals - Growing up I couldn’t wait to be a
mother! I wanted TEN kids. I
was the youngest of five and always wished I had younger brothers and sisters,
because of that, I wanted to make sure the #5 child in my family had younger brothers
and sisters. But when child number seven was born, I told my husband it felt
like I had ten and I was calling it good - we named him Skye because “Skye’s
the limit.”
I had my first 5 kids in six and a half years
and I could kick myself for not doing the math to realize those FIVE would be
teenagers at the same time. Seriously it was a great thing. Most
days they were best friends. (Once the girls got past the mornings of fighting
over the bathroom and who was wearing who’s clothes or what belonged to whom)
Our house was the hangout home filled with teen friends galore. I had to make a
choice to either love teens or dislike them ...I chose to love them, which actually was pretty easy to do.
Kids grow up too fast and because my first five
were so close together, they were out the door and on to college, missions and
marriage before I knew what had happened, leaving behind the two youngest Myley
now 19 and Skye 17.
One thing a parent learns pretty quickly is
that every child is unique and come with their own gifts, talents and attitude!
What works for one child does not work for another. Our daughter
Myley is her own beautiful unique self and likes to do things her way - sound
familiar to anyone? One day my husband, Scott decided to parent in a
different more humorous way to get a point across to our daughter about
modesty. The family was planning to go to dinner and miniature golfing,
but when he saw what Myley was wearing, instead of preaching up a storm, he
went to his room and cut an old pair of jeans into shorts, Daisy Duke style.
As he did this, he noticed a t-shirt that an older daughter had given him
for Father’s Day that said; “Best.Dad.Ever” across the chest. On the day
he received the shirt he thought “When would I ever wear that shirt except on
Father’s Day”? but this day he thought “Perfect shirt to complete my
outfit”. His intention was to walk downstairs sporting the shorts and his
daughter would see him, laugh, and say “Okay DAD, I get it” and then they would
both go change into longer jeans and head out the door for a night with the
family. That was the plan. That was what was supposed to happen. You know
the rest - he ended up taking it on the road, because like other teenagers, our
daughter didn’t notice, her face was in her phone. Scott wanting this to happen
naturally instead of forcing her to notice, he got into the truck and started
it up and headed down the road with our two teens in the back seat unaware of
anything going on outside their phones. Not until Scott got out of his truck at
the restaurant did she notice. To read the story in it’s entirety go to my blog. http://beckymacksblog.com/2013/09/the-real-story-behind-the-short-shorts/.
We did not expect a picture of my husband that
was posted to twitter by our son, Facebook
by me, and to tumblr by our
daughter Myley; would turn our lives upside down. (Be careful what you
post on social media - it can take on a life of its own and you can’t take it
back.)
First it was the funny picture of Scott
with a not so accurate caption that was beginning to go viral. I
encouraged Scott to write the REAL story behind the short-shorts and I would
post it on my blog and share it to the social media sites.
It was when the real story was posted
that the media picked it up. It started with the local news station KSL and the Deseret Newspaper. Then our phone started ringing off the hook;
this is the TODAY Show, Good Morning America, CNN, Fox News, Inside Edition,
Rachael Ray and many others, focusing
on “Modest Is Hottest” a line Scott
used at the end of the blog post story.
We tried to make the best of all the media’s
attention, which extended to dozens of radio interviews, and even a live
interview with the #1 morning show in Australia.
Both Scott and I have worked with various youth
organizations throughout our adult life.
Now this gave us an opportunity to reach the youth in a broader way, to
share a positive message with the world.
The message was so much more than modesty; it
was a message of the love of a parent. Scott wanted his daughter to know of her
great worth and importance and wants every teen to know they play an important
role in this world.
SMT: Who would you say is a role
model in your life?
Role model - My mother, who was always supportive and
involved in my life. She taught me the importance of family, God and being
grateful for every little thing.
SMT: What advise for young mothers would you
pass on in raising healthy confident children?
Advice: The advice I would give to young mothers is to
Love, Listen and Laugh everyday and of course to give lots of hugs and most of
all to encourage their children to go after their dreams AND a reminder that
they grow up in a blink of an eye. ENJOY every stage.
This unexpected experience has lead to my
husband Scott and I speaking to youth groups, adults and even at corporate
events. My friend Bridget Cook, a New York Times bestselling author,
helped me to write my first book; My Husband Wears The Short Shorts In THIS Family! Parenting with Humor, Courage and a whole lot of Love. A book was
another unexpected surprise, sharing the many lessons learned in raising our
seven children in hope of strengthening families with an emphasis on getting
through those teenage years.
To keep in touch and to see what happens next,
please follow my blog BeckyMacksBlog.com and visit our website at
LifesShortLessons.com
Warm hugs and best wishes in raising your
children
Becky
Thank You Becky for sharing your delightful story of loving your children through examples. SuperMoms please check out a short clip of their "Short Adventure" on YouTube.Then purchase your copy of the book on Amazon.
We would love to hear from you SuperMom’s about
your experience of raising teenagers and what advise you would share with
younger mothers raising these precious ones. What questions do you have? Let our community answer them for you. Like and Share let's keep our community growing strong.
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