We here at the Parent Bloggers Network do our best to keep posted on issues that we feel are important to parents. Let’s face it. We’re all tired and for many of us, the last thing we want to do is sit around watching the news or searching the web for articles that are pertinent to our lives. So, when we find something that we feel is of note, we’ll do our best to keep you informed.
Recently our parent bloggers reviewed a fantastic new product called Clean Well — a 100% natural hand sanitizer that is 99.9% effective in killing bacteria with something called Ingenium, a patented formulation of plant oils. Regardless of how you feel about using hand sanitizer, you know how effective handwashing is in preventing infections and the spread of diseases. And you also know how hard it is to get those little hands washed — particularly when you are out and about.
We’ve all used the mainstream hand sanitizers out there, and many of us have experienced the dry hands, smelled the alcohol scent, and attempted in one way or another to make sure our kids to touch themselves or anything else until their hands have dried.
But with Clean Well, you don’t need to worry. It’s alcohol-free and is totally safe for kids, pets, and food, just to name a few. It leaves your hands feeling soft and your conscience feeling pretty clear.
But in the past few days, there have been several disturbing reports of children getting alcohol poisoning from the mainstream hand sanitizers. Even with them only ingesting a small amount of the products, these kids are being rushed to the ERs with classic alcohol poisoning symptoms — and for obvious reasons. These products contain up to 65% alcohol. If these didn’t concern you before, perhaps it should concern you now — specifically if you’ve got little ones who like to get into your bag or purse.
We strongly suggest you give Clean Well a try. You’ll feel much better using it yourself and on your kids, and it will give you one less thing to worry about. And as we all know, that’s no short order. I’ll take any less worry that I can get. Feel free to pass the word onto your friends, families, and blog readers.
If you’d like to order Clean Well products, click here. Right now, you’ll get free shipping on orders over $25, so stock up! You can also peruse their site to get more information on their product. And if you’ve got a parenting issue in the news that we need to know about, please let us know.
There’s no doubt that the internet has helped parents become more informed. Perhaps it’s even made us better parents. But for what it might offer us in information, it’s certainly made life more complicated. Instead of calling your doctor for his or her opinion, you search Google for your kid’s symptoms, only to come up with anything from cough medicine advertisements to some weird blog post about a guy who contracted Malaria on a trip to Africa. And really, what parent has time for that (or the nerves to stand it?).
That’s why we were excited to learn about a new website for moms called Light Iris. Founded by father of two Kevin Burke (who I’ll be talking with tonight on Motherhood Uncensored Radio), this website is to help moms make life easier targeting moms as women and not so much as baby holders, feeders, and breeders.
Its first exciting feature is a specialized Google search engine that allows parents to search only the best parenting resource and blogs. It’s a way for you to still have information at your finger tips without getting bombarded with useless tidbits from the depths of the internet.
And so, after our wonderfully successful Blog Blast #1, for the last week, our bloggers have been putting the Light Iris search engine to the test. And here’s what they have to say:
And if you haven’t noticed, we’ve got a ton of giveaways and Blog Blasts happening (one this Friday), so check back often. Put our site in your reader so you don’t miss a thing!
We here at Parent Bloggers are certainly in the business of making parenting easier, but good parents are happy parents. And aside from offering you some free sleep, we’ve got the next best thing.
We’re teaming up with E-Harmony Marriage to offer you the opportunity to win a $100 American Express Gift Card to spend on a dinner date with your spouse/partner. And if that doesn’t cut it (because dinner with the kids is not really dinner), we’re including $100 to pay the babysitter.
Go ahead. I was pretty excited too.
So, here’s how it works:
Anytime on Friday June 1, write a post on the following topic:
“You know you need a date with your husband/partner when… [you fill in the blank]
the only time you see his undies is when you do the wash
you’re making parenting decisions on your cell phone
alone time constitutes sleeping in the same bed
You get the drift — fill in the blank with your own words and tell us how you keep your fires burning or how they went out and why they need rekindling.
Make sure to link marriage.eharmony.com (a fantastic new online alternative to marriage counseling) and parentbloggers.com somewhere in your post, and send us the link to your post at parentbloggers@gmail.com.
Only posts that have the correct links AND are dated June 1 will be entered. We’ll round-up all the posts here on our blog, send out a snazzy button, and announce the randomly picked winner on June 3. Feel free to spread the word and make sure to check out E-Harmony’s new program.
And stay tuned for parent blogger reviews of E-Harmony’s new Marriage Wellness program starting June 4, as well as a radio show with the program’s creators on June 13. And we’ve got more blog blasts up our sleeve, so mark your calendars!
If you’ve ever seen that look on the face of a new dad, then you know exactly why the folks at Dr. Moz came up with The Goodfather — a CD Rom that’s full of hilarious and informative commentary about parenting and fatherhood.
It’s a favorite around these parts, and that’s saying something.
We’re happy to be giving away a Dr. Moz The Goodfather CD-Rom to a lucky reader. All you have to do is just leave a comment in this post with your favorite new dad story — did he drop the baby on his head? did he get peed on? or did he know what to do better than you?
Tell us your story and we’ll pick a winner at random on June 8! Your sweet hubby (or you!) will get it in time for Father’s Day.
I’ve been asked before how I feel about the statement, “I support the troops, but not the war.” And my usual reply has been, “It’s a lot better than the way our troops were treated during the Vietnam War.”
In spite of the widely differing views on the war in Iraq, I find it heartening that most people agree that our military members deserve acknowledgement and praise for their willingness to serve and the sacrifices they make.
At The Soccer Mom Vote, Nancy (who also writes at Mom-Ma’am-Me and is a civil servant herself) wrote about the mother of a Marine serving in Iraq who launched “Operation Bedding” in response to a request her son made (fresh, comfortable linens for his platoon) six days before he was killed.
On this Memorial Day, please remember the troops who have paid the ultimate price - and remember their families as well. They’ve paid a terrible price themselves.
The Parent Bloggers Network is pleased to announce a new monthly feature - Different Kinds of Parents. The family unit has changed and evolved such that it’s no longer the norm to marry the boy or girl next door, or even necessarily someone from the same geographic, ethnic, religious, or socioeconomic background. Stay-at-home-Dads, same-sex unions, interracial marriages, and single parenting by choice - among other non-traditional family choices - are becoming more widespread and less of a curiosity to others.
In Different Kinds of Parents, we will present interviews with parents who don’t fit that traditional mold. By doing so, we hope to help other parents recognize and better understand the similarities between families, as well as gain a greater appreciation for the challenges faced by those parents who are, for one reason or another, different.
Most parents go through some soul-searching prior to starting a family - thinking about how they were raised, how they’d like to raise their own children. What sort of concerns did you and your partner discuss before having children? How do you think your concerns were similar to those of heterosexual parents, and in what areas do you think they differed?
Like all parents, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) parents go through soul-searching when starting their families. Interestingly, many LGBTQ parents may have had their children in the context of a heterosexual marriage and came out after their children were born. Obviously, this is a different set of circumstances from those couples that have children in a same-sex relationship.
The first questions we asked were the same ones that every parent thinks about. Can we afford to do this? Do we want to be that tired? Do you think we’ll have a boy or girl? I hope they are healthy. Will we still have time for us and our relationship? But there are some questions and concerns that are often unique to LGBTQ parents. How will we create our family? Should we adopt? If so, internationally, domestically or through foster care? Do we live in a state that will recognize both parents relationship to the child? Is our community supportive of LGBTQ families? What school will our child go to and are they ready to embrace diverse family structures? Are we doing the right thing? Will our children be teased? Can we help them be strong through that? Because of the added burden LGBTQ parents face and because of the discrimination in our laws, same-sex parents have to ensure that they can replicate as many protections as possible not available through law through private contracts
I don’t know any parents who are in complete agreement all the time about how to handle child-rearing duties. How have you and your partner divided up the duties? What adjustments have you made over time?
What parents are always united on every aspect of child rearing and care? In all seriousness, like every couple, this has been a negotiation for my partner and I. When the children were born (I carried our twins), I actually left work to stay home and care for them. I was home for the first three years while my partner had a very intense career. The transition to stay-at-home mom with my partner as sole bread winner was challenging – but we feel really blessed that we were able to do that for them. With twins, it was almost like being a single parent. For late night feedings. we both got up and gave them bottles (there’s no switching off nights with twins). In the last two years, my partner has been lucky enough to have a career with flexibility which has allowed her much more time with our children and I’ve gone back to work full time. Generally speaking though, I tend to be the disciplinarian, she tends to do lots of the play time (particularly at playgrounds). I like arts and crafts and music – she likes reading books. It’s been a great partnership.
All parents have to address sensitive issues with their children, but I expect such issues come up sooner for families such as yours. Have your children asked you any tough questions yet? Or have their friends (or their friends’ parents)? If so, how have you handled it? And if not, do you have some ideas as to how you will handle it?
We’ve been fortunate with our children. We live in a neighborhood where people are warm and accepting. That means that our children are welcome at block parties, birthday parties and play dates. There was a funny moment though, when our children were three, and the daughter of a neighbor came for a play date. Her parents were joining us at the end for dinner. The little girl was excited that her mom and dad were coming and kept asking our boys about where their dad was. When the boys said they didn’t have a father she looked a little confused. And then our son Tim put his hands on his hips with an exasperated little sigh and said, “Some kids have two mommies, some have two daddies, some have a mom and a dad and others have just one parent. All that matters is love.” And that was the end of it. It made sense to everyone and on they went with their games.
Please tell us more about Family Pride. There’s a lot of great information on your website about your mission and vision, the successes you’ve had, and ways to get involved for LGBTQ parents and those who support family equality. We’d love to know what your current top priorities are, as well as what you envision for the future of Family Pride.
Family Pride really wants people to understand that love is the most important ingredient in a family and that laws and policies should support all loving families. Less than 23% of American households in the US 2000 census were married mom/dad households. The face of the American family is changing and public opinion and legal protections need to keep up with those changes. Big priorities over the coming years include training LGBTQ parents on how to advocate for themselves and their children at every community level, working to make schools more welcoming to those children who have one or more LGBTQ parents and to ensure that wherever families are discussed our families are included. For more information about our work, visit www.familypride.org.
We also love your blog. Who are the contributors? How widespread is your readership, and how has it grown over time?
We’re so excited with the success of our blog. It’s a great way for us to share information, engage our supporters and talk about issues that are important for all loving families. The voice of our blog is a large one—the entire staff contributes posts to the blog and we often host “guest bloggers” from other organizations. We launched the blog back in December, and it’s been growing by leaps and bounds ever since. Last month alone our blog grew by 240% to 10,000 readers. In early April, thousands of participants tuned in across the country as we blogged live from the White House lawn in order to secure tickets to the 2007 White House Easter Egg Roll for LGBTQ families. If you haven’t yet read our blog, visit http://www.familypride.org/blog.
What are your thoughts regarding visibility - how to be an active part of the community while assuaging concerns about safety and discrimination?
The reality is that parents often don’t have a choice about being out in their community. Having children often forces you out even when you’re not expecting it. I’ve heard countless stories of two parents at the grocery store just going about their business when one of their children blurts out to the cashier – “I have two mommies you know”. The key to being visible is to be comfortable with your family’s story and to be able to tell it in a way that elicits support. Many folks are very interested in how we create our families – the trick is to get them interested in how we raise our families and how we live our lives as families. That’s why our OUTSpoken Families program has been successful. It gives parents, extended family, teachers and allies a way to tell our stories that really resonate with those around us.
Where’s your favorite place to take the kids?
Great swimming pools or water parks. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to swim and so do our kids. Our local favorite is Hains Point in Washington, DC.
Which kids’ books can you read over and over? What’s getting old? Which ones are you ready to throw across the room?
Any Berenstain Bears book could be read 999 times. They are also addicted to action hero comic books. The Maisy series of books are definitely past their prime now. And none is the answer to the last question. I have books still on the shelf from when I was little. As my partner likes to say – I’m a book obsessed pack rat.
Which kids’ music can you listen to endlessly? What’s tolerable? What makes your ears bleed?
The music my kids love that I can listen to endlessly is actually some of my favorite music – it includes Neil Diamond, Trish Yearwood, Barry Manilow and Olivia Newton-John (apparently I’m a 50+ year old straight woman trapped in the body of a 36-year old lesbian) Tolerable music is any Disney movie or kids show tunes. The Wiggles incites instantaneous bleeding from my ears.
I’ve never really thought of my so-called extracurricular activities as hobbies - that is, what I like to do when I’m not earning money, spending money, or scrubbing the kitchen floor. Once on a first date, the guy asked if I had any hobbies. I can only imagine the look I gave him, because for me the word “hobby” conjures up mental images of geeky guys fiddling with ham radios or organizing their baseball cards.
After reading Get a Hobby!, a new book from Tina Barseghian that is just like taking a survey course that covers dozens of fascinating ways to entertain yourself, I had to admit to myself that I do have hobbies. I’m indulging in one right now - blogging. I also enjoy stamp collecting (talk about geeky) and knitting - both of which are covered in Get a Hobby! My husband has hobbies too, even though he probably wouldn’t refer to them that way either: balloon twisting, beer brewing, magic, and framing - all of which are covered as well.
Hobbies give you something to focus on besides the day-to-day responsibilities. Even exercise and cooking, while certainly enjoyable (to some people, anyway), are not necessarily hobbies unless practiced as pursuits above and beyond the basic responsibility of keeping yourself fed and healthy.
The Foreword, written by neurologist Miguel Figueroa M.D., notes the significant mental and physical benefits to adopting a hobby - an activity that requires your full concentration, allowing you to take your mind off other worries as you learn and practice new skills. As he states: “A good relaxing hobby is a personally pleasing occupation that brings you entirely into the moment.” It’s the relaxation we experience when immersed in such activities that is so beneficial to us.
Twenty of our bloggers (apparently we’ve got a lot of idle hands and minds out there) eagerly accepted the challenge to Get a Hobby! and will review the book over the next three weeks. Please refer to the schedule below (and keep reading to find out about this campaign’s giveaway!):
What better way to start pursuing a new hobby than with your own copy of the book and a $100 gift card to Michael’s Arts and Crafts (redeemable in-store across the US and Canada)? Leave a comment here or on the upcoming mid-campaign post, and you’ll be entered to win!
So it’s no wonder that Even June Cleaver Would Forget the Juice Box earned great praise from our reviewers. They’ve been dog-earing the pages and highlighting passages, shouting “Amen!” and “Hell yeah!” as they go:
Now I’m shouting “Amen!” and “Hell yeah!” and jumping up and down on my chair - because I identify with every word of what she wrote. Well, except for the part about mopping three times a week.
We adore our children. We want them to be happy and healthy and successful enough to take care of us in our old age. Rationally we know that extreme parenting isn’t helping us or our children, and yet we subconsciously fall prey to the inner diatribes. So while this book may consist primarily of common sense concepts that we all know deep down, ”if you’re struggling with impossibly high expectations of yourself, June Cleaver is worth reading.”
To buy your own copy of Even June Cleaver Would Forget the Juice Box, click here!
I’m awed by the enthusiasm for The Dangerous Book For Boys - from our parent bloggers, from their friends and families, and from my own friends and family. I’ve already sent a copy to my brother and his two sons, my father-in-law read it cover to cover when he visited us last week, and I desperately wish I could show it to my late maternal grandfather, as he was the one who ignited my own sense of adventure.
Our bloggers have spent the last month exploring the world of Boca Beth, a Spanish language learning series created by mom and educator Beth Butler. It’s an affordable, award-winning program that parents appreciate and kids love. With early exposure being of utmost importance to second language learning, the Boca Beth series is aimed at making the experience fun.
Similar to our reviewers in the first half of the campaign, these parent bloggers found their kids really enjoyed what Boca Beth had to offer.
The program even got a thumbs-up from a native Spanish speaking Mother-in-law of one of our bloggers.
The Boca Beth program receives an enthusiastic “thumbs up” from my former-elementary-school-teacher Mother-in-law. Which, is NO SMALL feat! Should you be interested in teaching your child Spanish, this program deserves your attention. While this review is from the perspective of a native-Spanish-speaker, Yaya assures me that it is very easy for anyone to use.
Also, she added: “I must mention that this is the second Spanish language program that we have used. The first program was much more expensive (we borrowed it from a friend) and was not nearly as beneficial as the Boca Beth program. And, it was all on VHS…call me spoiled, I like the DVDs!”
Boca Beth might not be as slickly produced as Baby Einstein videos are, but in my own opinion the educational value of the program is far superior. Beth Butler has done an excellent job presenting Spanish in a way that is not only appealing to a wide age range, but it’s done in a way that’s downright infectious. Not to mention that after watching the video myself, I probably learned more Spanish than I did in two years of college-level Spanish classes!
You can find Boca Beth’s Programs here, as well as myriad of free resources on her website.
The winner of the free program is: Sarah. Drop us an email to claim your prize!
Our bloggers are directed to write frank and honest reviews assessing their personal experience with a product or service. Their reviews may include both positive and negative feedback.
For more information, please refer to our Disclaimer.
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If you’ve ever seen that look on the face of a new dad, then you know exactly why the folks at 
CD-Rom to a lucky reader. All you have to do is just leave a comment in this post with your favorite new dad story — did he drop the baby on his head? did he get peed on? or did he know what to do better than you?
I’ve been asked before how I feel about the statement, “I support the troops, but not the war.” And my usual reply has been, “It’s a lot better than the way our troops were treated during the Vietnam War.”
Most parents go through some soul-searching prior to starting a family - thinking about how they were raised, how they’d like to raise their own children. What sort of concerns did you and your partner discuss before having children? How do you think your concerns were similar to those of heterosexual parents, and in what areas do you think they differed?
