Travel Itinerary for the Week of August 1st!

On Monday, we will be in Illinois with Polish Mama On The Prairie. This Mama describes a trip across the country with her family, and talks about what it’s like to really feel like you’re at home.

On Tuesday, we head to South Carolina, where Maggie Ellison talks about how she was able to free herself from the negativity generated by other people, leading to a more positive existence for herself and her family.

On Wednesday, we fly across the Atlantic to read a bittersweet post by Asta Burrows. Asta talks about the joy of first discovering a pregnancy, followed by the heartbreak that happens when the pregnancy does not work out.

And on Thursday, we head back across the pond to Toronto, Canada, to hear from Kirsten Doyle of Running for Autism. Kirsten talks about an issue that faces all parents at some stage or another: when bad things happen in the world, how do we explain it to our kids?

On Friday Eva Fannon leads us in the Friday Question. Be sure to check it out and chime in with your answers!

In writer interviews this week, we will hear from Courtney Cappallo of Massachusetts on Tuesday, and on Thursday we will get to know Jill Barth from Illinois.

In news, Jennifer Burden is headed to the Blogher ’11 conference later this week. We cannot wait to hear all about it!

— World Moms Blog

Our World Moms Blog logo was designed by the creative Erica Joyner Designs in Virginia, USA.

World Moms Blog

World Moms Blog is an award winning website which writes from over 30 countries on the topics of motherhood, culture, human rights and social good. Over 70 international contributors share their stories from around the globe, bonded by the common thread of motherhood and wanting a better world for their children. World Moms Blog was listed by Forbes Woman as one of the "Best 100 Websites for Women 2012 & 2013" and also called a "must read" by the NY Times Motherlode in 2013. Our Senior Editor in India, Purnima Ramakrishnan, was awarded the BlogHer International Activist Award in 2013.

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Saturday Layover for July 30th, 2011…

This coming week, I’m excited to be representing World Moms Blog at the Blogher ’11 conference in San Diego, California.  As I’m busy preparing for the adventure, this week I’m going to keep it short, but hopefully, slightly entertaining.

The writers’ interviews that we’ve been posting as additional posts on Tuesdays and Thursdays have been really helping us get to know our new writing community better. We’re even finding many more things out about our seasoned WMB writers that we didn’t know!

It occurred to me that some of you might be thinking, “Who the heck is running this ship?” And, also, maybe the thought never even crossed your mind. ha ha. So, anyway, this week, as your World Moms Blog founder and editor, I’m answering one question from our normal interview.  And, here’s how it goes… (more…)

Jennifer Burden

Jennifer Burden is the Founder and CEO of World Moms Network, an award winning website on global motherhood, culture, human rights and social good. World Moms Network writes from over 30 countries, has over 70 contributors and was listed by Forbes as one of the “Best 100 Websites for Women”, named a “must read” by The New York Times, and was recommended by The Times of India. She was also invited to Uganda to view UNICEF’s family health programs with Shot@Life and was previously named a “Global Influencer Fellow” and “Social Media Fellow” by the UN Foundation. Jennifer was invited to the White House twice, including as a nominated "Changemaker" for the State of the World Women Summit. She also participated in the One Campaign’s first AYA Summit on the topic of women and girl empowerment and organized and spoke on an international panel at the World Bank in Washington, DC on the importance of a universal education for all girls. Her writing has been featured by Baby Center, Huffington Post, ONE.org, the UN Foundation’s Shot@Life, and The Gates Foundation’s “Impatient Optimists.” She is currently a candidate in Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs in the Executive Masters of Public Affairs program, where she hopes to further her study of global policies affecting women and girls. Jennifer can be found on Twitter @JenniferBurden.

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Friday Question: Do your kids help with household chores?

This week’s Friday Question comes from World Moms Blog writer Maggie Ellison.  She asked our writers,

“Do your kids help with household chores?  If not, do you plan on giving them any as they get older?  If so, at what age?  Do/will they get an allowance?”

Here are responses from some of our World Moms…

MamaRobinJ of British Columbia, Canada writes:
“I look forward to the day I can give my son responsibility for cleaning the floors!  🙂

He’s three, but he does help a little bit and we’ll definitely keep him involved. We started long ago with getting him to pick up his toys and if he makes a mess he has to help clean it up, especially if he did it deliberately. He also loves to “help” so we let him and show him how (for the things it’s safe for him to do). As he gets older, we’ll expect him to contribute to stuff around the house, but to me that’s just an expectation as part of the family – I don’t plan to attach an allowance to it. Interested to hear other moms’ perspectives, though, especially if they have older kids and know how well that will or won’t work!” (more…)

World Moms Blog

World Moms Blog is an award winning website which writes from over 30 countries on the topics of motherhood, culture, human rights and social good. Over 70 international contributors share their stories from around the globe, bonded by the common thread of motherhood and wanting a better world for their children. World Moms Blog was listed by Forbes Woman as one of the "Best 100 Websites for Women 2012 & 2013" and also called a "must read" by the NY Times Motherlode in 2013. Our Senior Editor in India, Purnima Ramakrishnan, was awarded the BlogHer International Activist Award in 2013.

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INDIA: Interview with The Alchemist

INDIA: Interview with The Alchemist

Where in the world do you live? And, are you from there?

I now live in Chennai,India. I am from a smaller town, around 350 miles from here. I lived in the same house and even had the same room for twenty-five years of my life.

I did my entire schooling, college education and even post-graduate education there. After getting married, I settled down here in Chennai with my physician husband and son.

I have never moved much in my life, have strong roots and hopefully don’t intend to move out of this home anytime soon.

What language(s) do you speak?

I speak English, Hindi (India’s National language) and Tamil (my mother tongue). I read and writer the same three languages. I am not great at picking up languages, rather I should say, the necessity has never been there. (more…)

Purnima Ramakrishnan

Purnima Ramakrishnan is an UNCA award winning journalist and the recipient of the fellowship in Journalism by International Reporting Project, John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Her International reports from Brazil are found here . She is also the recipient of the BlogHer '13 International Activist Scholarship Award . She is a Senior Editor at World Moms Blog who writes passionately about social and other causes in India. Her parental journey is documented both here at World Moms Blog and also at her personal Blog, The Alchemist's Blog. She can be reached through this page . She also contributes to Huffington Post . Purnima was once a tech-savvy gal who lived in the corporate world of sleek vehicles and their electronics. She has a Master's degree in Electronics Engineering, but after working for 6 years as a Design Engineer, she decided to quit it all to become a Stay-At-Home-Mom to be with her son!   This smart mom was born and raised in India, and she has moved to live in coastal India with her husband, who is a physician, and her son who is in primary grade school.   She is a practitioner and trainer of Heartfulness Meditation.

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WASHINGTON, USA: The Name Game

Both times I was pregnant, my husband and I easily agreed upon possible  first and middle names for girls (using the American format of first name, middle name, last/surname). So, of course, we ended up having two boys for whom we had no ideas.

When we learned we were having our first son, I asked my husband if he wanted a namesake, meaning our son to have my husband’s exact name in its entirety.

I grew up around the tradition of naming children after parents. My brother is actually a “third,” with my father being the “junior” and my grandfather being the “senior.” Having a son and father use the same form of the same name can be confusing. However, there is something special about the tradition of keeping a family name alive. If my husband wanted that father-son bond, it was fine by me.

My husband’s family keeps names alive in a different way… (more…)

Tara Bergman (USA)

Tara is a native Pennsylvanian who moved to the Seattle area in 1998 (sight unseen) with her husband to start their grand life adventure together. Despite the difficult fact that their family is a plane ride away, the couple fell in love with the Pacific Northwest and have put down roots. They have 2 super charged little boys and recently moved out of the Seattle suburbs further east into the country, trading in a Starbucks on every corner for coyotes in the backyard. Tara loves the outdoors (hiking, biking, camping). And, when her family isn't out in nature, they are hunkered down at home with friends, sharing a meal, playing games, and generally having fun. She loves being a stay-at-home mom and sharing her experiences on World Moms Network!

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