Today, PPLM Parent Education Program Manager Amy Cody shares a book recommendation for parents:
After hearing UMass/Amherst sociology professor Amy Schalet speak at a conference sponsored by the Massachusetts Alliance on Teen Pregnancy, I was intrigued to read her book Not Under My Roof: Parents, Teens, and the Culture of Sex, which proved to be a fascinating and well-researched analysis of the contrasting ways parents in the Netherlands and the United States typically handle teen sexuality.Today, PPLM Parent Education Program Manager Amy Cody shares a book recommendation for parents:
After hearing UMass/Amherst sociology professor Amy Schalet speak at a conference sponsored by the Massachusetts Alliance on Teen Pregnancy, I was intrigued to read her book Not Under My Roof: Parents, Teens, and the Culture of Sex, which proved to be a fascinating and well-researched analysis of the contrasting ways parents in the Netherlands and the United States typically handle teen sexuality.
For Laurel's first few birthday parties, I assembled fun yet somewhat insane birthday parties -- inviting tons of people, making tons of food, and admittedly not being particularly mindful of the fact that Laurel is overwhelmed by large crowds and that I was putting a lot of unnecessary work on myself. I eventually smartened up, opting for smaller and simpler gatherings. And whether it's a function of my minimalist parenting mindset (as it turns out, birthdays offer an excellent opportunity to work on "do less" practices), the second child phenomenon, or the fact that I'm experiencing discord with one of my siblings, for Violet's birthday, I truly was happy with the idea of celebrating with just our immediate family of four.
Today, Debbie (also of Two Adopt Two) shares tips for celebrating birthdays without birth parents:
Both my kids' birthdays fall during March. It's a fun month, but for our family it also has complications. I'm not talking about making dozens of cupcakes at the same time we're cleaning the kitchen for Passover. I'm talking about the meaning of a "birth" day. We adopted our kids five years ago as preschoolers, so they are celebrating their birth without their birth parents, and they know it.
Today, Jennifer (also of Hey Girl Momma Go) shares 12 ideas for winter birthday parties (that go beyond the bouncy castle):
I actually don't mind indoor jumpy houses and long inflatable slides. I have even grown to appreciate the "fun" in large singing mice, cheesy pan pizza, and gobs of tickets that propel out of game machines like a crazy paper adrenaline rush. But as a parent who frequents the kid's birthday party circuit, it is refreshing to switch it up. Here are 12 ideas for kid's birthday parties that are great for the winter season (many are great the rest of the year too!).
It's sort of crazy how things come full circle. Two years ago at BlissDom (incidentally, where I'm headed off to shortly), I had several people tell me I should write a book -- a huge compliment. And at that conference, I actually thought of a book idea -- I was so excited about the idea that I drafted an outline on the plane ride home. But then I couldn't quite take the idea forward. It was a busy year -- I was traveling a lot, I got distracted by another book idea later that year (again, I outlined the concept during the ride home). And then I unexpectedly got pregnant. Which meant another busy year followed.
Last week I hopped onto a chat at The Motherhood about work/life balance. During the chat, I commented about self care being a major part of the balance equation, but that it's important not to stall out due to your own, or other people's, ambitious standards. That very morning, actually, I started a practice of giving myself the gift of at least 10 minutes of self care every day. (And yes, I put "10 minutes" as a recurring to-do in my Outlook since I love crossing off to-do items.) Tomorrow (Friday the 17th) at 1pm EST, I'll be hosting a live chat about the 10 minute challenge. Come share and garner inspiration for how to make self care doable! The chat is text based (similar to posting and commenting on status updates in Facebook); just be sure to create a login at The Motherhood in advance so you can hop right on at 1pm to chat in real time!
I can't believe Violet turns one next month. I also can't believe she ever used to lie immobile on her back. During the night, she migrates around her crib a lot, which has made blanket coverage impossible and (I think) contributed to interrupted sleep. Now, sleep sacks as a temperature solution are not a new concept to me, but I hadn't bothered with them for Violet since with Laurel, the zip-front openings weren't the most convenient for middle of the night diaper changes.
Today, PPLM Parent Education Program Manager Amy Cody shares tips for talking with your kids about the HPV vaccine:
One of the most important and challenging tasks parents face is communicating our values to our children (without them rolling their eyes) -- especially when talking about sex. But while these conversations can be difficult and awkward, research shows that positive and honest communication helps young people delay sexual activity and make healthier, safer decisions about sex.
My life list includes writing a couple of books that have been percolating in my brain the last couple of years (I'm actually drafting outlines for a potential publisher!). Meanwhile, I have a few friends who published books this year and I'm utterly thrilled for them! These titles technically are no longer new releases (though a couple of them, er, were in fact so when the review copies were sent to me during my Violet babymoon), but I wanted to share them before more time elapsed. The first title would be an entertaining gift for a new mom; the second and third handy for aspiring mamapreneurs.
Today, Kate shares a great local spot to learn to sew with kids:
My 6-year-old daughter likes to watch me knit and sew, and often asks when she will be old enough to join in. I have so far hesitated, being not quite confident that her little hands are ready to carefully handle sharp needles and scissors and small pieces of thread. A recent trip to La Esquina Studio in Cambridge, however, convinced me that she is nimbler and more capable than I would have expected, and more ready to sustain the attention needed to see a project through to completion.
I'm part of the Mom's the Word on Dinner conversation series via Momversation so I've been thinking a lot about mealtime (even more than usual!). Recent conversation on the program's Facebook page has focused on dinnertime mojo and quick meals, and these conversation threads have reminded me that meals are decidedly un-Zen for so many families. Indeed, with two busy parents, a chatty 7-year-old, and a sippy cup banging 8-month-old at our table, meals are not always the most relaxed. This all got me thinking about some of the typical stumbling blocks we face and how we try to address them. I hope the below thoughts are helpful, and I'd love to hear if you have other challenges at the dinner table and what you do to mitigate them!
While I was en route to California this past weekend, I was so happy to have some quiet time to read through more of the Boston Mamas survey comments. Among the responses was a question that fit well both for the Dear Boston Mamas column, and given that I just guest posted at Rookie Moms about what I have learned in having a second child. Of course, a lot of the below would apply to 2+ children as well; if you have additional thoughts to share, feel free to do so in the comments!
Question: How is life with two kids? We are expecting #2 and I know it will be different but how? How are you managing? Is baby #2 on a schedule or on older child's schedule?
As part of Momversation and Ragú®'s Mom's the Word on Dinner Program, I recently chatted with Daphne Brogdon and Caroline Murphy about grocery shopping with kids. I've embedded the video below for your viewing pleasure (it's about two and a half minutes long) and would love to hear whether you find family outings to the grocery store super helpful, utterly exhausting, or somewhere in between. Feel free to weigh in below in the comments or over at the Ragú® Sauce Facebook page (where a very lively convo is brewing!).
In May, I wrote about Laurel encouraging us to start up vegetarian week every month. Since that time, she's increasingly gone off meat and this summer decided to become a vegetarian. We're not a huge meat eating family to start with, but I know that being a vegetarian has challenged her at times, particularly when she's thought about tuna melts, moussaka, and my chicken tenders. And it's not quite as simple as just putting a salad in front of her, because even though Laurel consumes a lot more veggies than she used to, veggies are more of an accompaniment than the main attraction for her. And some easy options -- such as falafel and hummus -- haven't been received favorably.
It's been two weeks since I embarked on the Do More. Live More. Be More. challenge. I'm curious about whether you have shared a promise for the campaign -- it's a reflective task that's easy and enters you to win cool prizes (I mean, really, who doesn't dig cool prizes?). Anyway, I wanted to report in about how my challenge is going. The six buckets I wrote about experimenting with were: purging, pickups, event planning, household, travel, and virtual assistant.
Whether or not extreme couponing is your thing, grocery budgeting is top of mind for most families. As part of Momversation and Ragú®'s Mom's the Word on Dinner Program, I recently chatted with Daphne Brogdon and Caroline Murphy about tips for feeding families on a budget. I've embedded the video below for your viewing pleasure (it's just over two minutes long) and would love to hear your clever tips for scoring at the grocery store, either below in the comments or over at the Ragú® Sauce Facebook page.
Like many moms, my daily life is packed -- both with work projects and a seemingly endless stream of household minutia. Lately, I've been thinking a lot about how to increase my happiness factor by shifting the weight off the minutia (I even have a draft post titled "How to Do Less"), so it was bizarrely well timed when TaskRabbit contacted me about being the Boston spokeswoman for their Do More. Live More. Be More. campaign. I was psyched for a couple of reasons. First, I've happily used TaskRabbit before. Second, the campaign is all about encouraging people to do more of what they love and less of what they don't.
During the pushing phase of my 58 hours of labor with Violet (over five months ago...where does the time go?), I strained something in my left hip/glute area. When I received clearance 6 weeks postpartum and started working out again, I attempted to address this problem area via yoga. I also resumed running, and that, my friends, has been pretty torturous. I'm not a natural runner to begin with, and whatever was going on in my left hip/glute made for not so nimble runs followed by immense discomfort, including a searing pain that seemed buried deep in the bone on my left back side. So I slowed down on running and continued yoga, but felt pretty discouraged to feel no improvement over the course of a couple of months. I know these things take time, but still.