Today's Dear Boston Mamas query comes from new reader Amy via e-mail:
Hi Christine, I recently discovered your site and love it! It's super helpful for a working mother of a 6-year-old and 3-year-old. I find it refreshing, very well-written and with a great dose of humor. One question: I was inspired to clean out the junk. In doing so I've been able to give a lot to consignment (I love Growing Up and Revolve in Belmont) however, I have a lot of gently used toys, women's clothing and household items that I would like to go to charities who give these items away to the needy for free. Can you suggest and organizations? Perhaps Cradles to Crayons for the children's items? Any ideas for the adult items?
Today, Lindsey (also of A Design So Vast) shares four astute tips for parenting tweens:
My daughter turned 10 a few months ago, and while the tween years are technically between the ages of 9 to 12, this particular birthday felt important, auspicious. We are tiptoeing over a line, she and I. As I move through this next season of motherhood, more than anything I want my daughter to keep talking to me. This priority informs all of my actions these days. At least for me, the difference between relating to a 10-year-old and to an 8-year-old is far wider than the two year gap would suggest. I have a few recommendations to share on communicating with tweens:
Today's Dear Boston Mamas query comes from a mom on the South Shore via comment. Coincidentally, Boston Mamas contributing writer Priya (who recently relocated to the South Shore) already was working on a post about South Shore indoor activities and shares a roundup of leads in response to the question:
Anyone have any ideas for party places/venues for the South Shore or even the Cape? I swear the South Shore is LAME and all the cool places are North and West :(
Ever since Asha and I finished writing Minimalist Parenting in July, we've been chipping away at a seemingly endless to-do list (actually, multiple to-do lists...thank you, Basecamp) related to the book. All the work has been good and productive (for example, check out our new website, which I redesigned during the winter break, and please join our totally non-spammy mailing list!) and it's incredibly exciting to finally be in the year 2013 and realize, OMG, we can now say the book comes out THIS YEAR and start sharing some of what we've been up to. Here are two exciting developments:
Today, Judy (also of Talking Thirty) shares 8 tips for encouraging shared responsibility at home:
It's common for couples to experience an imbalance in child-rearing and household responsibilities -- and for the person shouldering the load to feel immense frustration. But it doesn't have to be this way, and it's worth taking the time to reverse the trend. Couples who assume joint responsibility for childcare and household management can benefit from reduced stress levels, better emotional well-being, and a stronger bond. Research also suggests that when both parents are actively involved in their children's lives, kids experience fewer behavior problems, greater academic success, and other psychological benefits. Here are 8 tips for encouraging shared responsibility at home:
I love sending and receiving holiday cards. And since becoming a parent, I have fully embraced that it doesn't really matter when you send them -- the point is to reconnect in a way that matters to you whenever you have the chance to do it. (For example, one year we sent our holiday greetings in March...we had many people tell us they loved receiving cards off peak season!) As has become the norm, my holiday cards did not make it out before Christmas (the last batch is going out in the mail today), and it was so delightful to create them and even hand write the addresses. And Pinhole Press made the process absurdly easy.
Happy New Year everyone -- I hope you enjoyed a wonderful holiday! I apologize for not giving proper warning about my radio silence here...I had a post queued up to let you know about my holiday plans for the site, but ended up falling off the social media map in the most delightful way. Taking work into low gear + truly living the minimalist holidays mantra afforded me the most relaxed and restorative holiday season ever! Anyway, during this window of down time, like many folks, I spent a lot of time reflecting on 2012 and thinking about the year to come. Today, I wanted to share eight intentions I'm setting for 2013. I would love to hear yours as well!
I'm so proud to work with the American Cancer Society and it was super fun to put together A Healthier Holiday Table, a crowd-sourced repository of recipes to help inspire people to eat well. Come share a recipe! Today, I'm sharing a colorful vegetarian lasagna I recently made; it's great if you have a vegetarian in the house (as we do with Laurel) or want to take a break from meat (as Jon and I periodically do); I bump up the protein by adding tofu. Also, it's fast, easy, and kids can help (Laurel chopped the vegetables and did all the layering). And since I'm obsessed with crockpots, I'm thinking about tossing this whole thing in there next time!
Through my work at The Mission List and via my travel to Ethiopia with ONE Moms, I've been thinking a lot about the hunger crisis this year, and taking small actions to contribute towards eradicating global hunger. Today I wanted to share about the World Food Program's Fill a Cup, Feed a Dream school meals program. The World Food Program views hunger as a problem that can be solved; they use a red cup to feed kids healthy, nutritious school meals and also as a symbol of hope. Amazingly, it only takes 25 cents to fill a red cup with porridge, rice, or beans and give kids a monthly ration to take home. Crazy, right?
I love traveling. Except for the part about the schlepping of the stuff, especially the bulky, heavy stuff such as travel cribs. So I was intrigued to learn that there was a new (parent-designed) travel crib in town, and then find out that journeyBee delivers what it promises. Weighing in under 12 pounds (about half the weight of other play yards), and decidedly easier to schlep (the crib folds down flat and comes with a travel bag), it takes about 2 seconds to pop open and maybe 5-20 seconds (depending on how good you are at following left/right instructions) to fold down. I initially wondered about the coziness of a crib that sits directly on the floor (compared to footed travel cribs), but journeyBee has a nice, thick mattress pad and fleece cover sheet.
Today's Dear Boston Mamas query comes from Sarah via the Boston Mamas Facebook page (congrats on your impending arrival Sarah!). Boston Mamas contributing writer Jennifer (a North Shore mom of twins) kindly is fielding Sarah's question:
Hi Boston Mamas. We live north of Boston, but I was wondering if you have any resources on finding twin classes, of any kind, and/or cloth diaper information/classes. We have a 21-month-old now and twins on the way in April. Thanks in advance!
Given the no-brainer nature of my family's morning routine (wake up, get dressed, eat breakfast, etc.), it's heartbreaking to know that millions of kids across the U.S. are forced to go without breakfast. Especially when it's so absurdly easy to make breakfast happen. Well, actually, I should rephrase that. Share Our Strength's No Kid Hungry program does the heavy lifting by working with schools to create breakfast programs for kids in need, but for the rest of us, we can make breakfast happen with the click of a mouse. And even a donation of $1 makes a big difference in curbing hunger.
Today, Jules shares four recipes to put a fresh spin on traditional Thanksgiving vegetables:
As our household chef, every year for Thanksgiving I love cooking my family's favorite classic dishes, and I also love getting creative with traditional ingredients. Here are four side dishes that I've whipped up, all using classic vegetables, but with a fresh presentation. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Boys count too. Of course they do. But this fall, I've learned so much about the disproportionate challenges that girls face, most notably through what I witnessed on the ground in Ethiopia and digitally through Half the Sky and now Malala Yousafzai, a 15-year-old girl who was shot in the head because of her commitment to advocating for the right for girls -- for all children -- to go to school. This is something that's incredibly difficult for me to stomach; dropping Laurel and Violet off at school is just a basic part of our routine.
It's hard to believe that this time last month I was in Ethiopia with ONE Moms -- the trip still lives so vividly with me (I just dreamed last night that I was headed back to Africa). Many of you asked how you could help -- I hope to circle back soon with a list of ways to help the specific sites we visited while on the ground in Ethiopia. Meanwhile, today, I'm asking you to consider making a difference by taking two actions in twenty seconds. So simple. So easy. So important.