by Jennifer Burden | Jul 4, 2011 | Childhood, Culture, Eye on Culture, Family, Holiday, Motherhood, Parenting, USA, World Moms Blog
Growing up, my best memories of July 4th, the U.S. Independence Day, were picking out my clothes in shades of red, white and blue, helping my mom put our U.S. flag outside our house and getting to run around with fire sparklers around our backyard at night.
Sparklers were for the younger kids (say 8 years old and up), while the big kids were helping the adults set off fireworks on our side yard. You’re not allowed to light off your own fireworks now in NJ for safety reasons, come to think about it, I’m pretty sure that you weren’t allowed to back then either.
I can still smell the savory scents of the day: hotdogs, sauerkraut, hamburgers, sausage, peppers and onions coming from the grill, and the aroma of mom’s potato salad, barbecue chicken and corn on the cob coming from the kitchen. We barbecued all day in our backyard, and my parents would have their friends over. And, everyone brought their kids, so the kids were always off playing on their own.
My mom would also make a U.S. flag cake, decorated with blueberries, strawberries and whipped cream, and my dad would stand over the grill until everyone had their fill. I can still hear him calling me his “bicentennial baby” because I was born in the year of my nation’s bicentennial, 1976. (more…)
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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by World Moms Blog | Jul 3, 2011 | Canada, India, International, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Tara B., USA, World Moms Blog Itinerary
On Monday we will celebrate American Independence Day in New Jersey with Jennifer Burden. Jennifer is the founder and editor-in-chief of World Moms Blog, and she talks about her Fourth of July celebrations, both past and present.
On Tuesday,we will be in Washington with Tara B., mom of two busy boys. Her story of getting her son ready for school in the morning is sure to make you both laugh and nod wisely with understanding. If you haven’t “been there” already, I can guarantee that at some point, you will be!
On Wednesday, we fly over to Norway to hear from Asta Burrows. Asta gives a bittersweet account of an upcoming transition in her child’s life, and gives us a reminder of how our kids grow up all too quickly.
And on Thursday, we stay international as we head to India, where Fire Crystals talks about one of those subjects that everyone seems to have a different opinion on: discipline. She discusses the cultural differences between East and West in a thought-provoking post.
On Friday Eva Fannon leads us in the Friday Question. Be sure to check it out and chime in with your answers!
We have two great writer interviews this week! On Tuesday we will get to know MamaRobinJ from Victoria, BC, and on Thursday we will hear from Mama B in Saudi Arabia!
— World Moms Blog
Our World Moms Blog logo was designed by the creative Erica Joyner Designs in Virginia, USA.
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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by Jennifer Burden | Jul 2, 2011 | International, Motherhood, Multicultural, World Moms Blog Review
When I first started World Moms Blog, I don’t think I could have possibly comprehended what it was going to be like. Each week we read different experiences in the form of blog posts from around the world on so many different topics. The mothers who write for the blog are challenging me to think and leading me to places and topics that I haven’t thought about before.
This week, I felt Carol’s sadness of raising a child miles and miles away from her family, Margie’s pain at the loss of her newborn baby, Kally’s laughs about TV moms through the ages, and I got distracted by Polish Mom Photographer’s delicious looking chocolate cake. I also got to read about many of the World Moms’ pregnancy cravings in the Friday Question.
I care about this blog so much. I want to learn and grow with our writers and the community that has developed around our posts. My motherhood experience has definitely been enhanced by World Moms Blog in ways and emotions that I could have never imagined.
As an editor, my biggest challenge is, well….editing. If a writer writes about her life experience, my personal reaction is that we read it as just that. It may offend, it may not, but we have the unique opportunity to look through a lens and see how other people live as though we are in their in-group. When do we ever get the chance to do that? (more…)
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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by World Moms Blog | Jul 1, 2011 | Cooking, Eva Fannon, Food, Friday Question, Husband, Kids, Motherhood, Polish Mom Photographer, Pregnancy, Salma, Tara B., Third Eye Mom
This week’s Friday Question comes from World Moms Blog writer Tara B. She asked our writers,
“What were your biggest aversions and/or cravings during pregnancy?”
Check out what some of our World Moms had to say…
MamaRobinJ of British Columbia, Canada writes:
“I ate a lot of pickles. And ice cream. But not together, because I’m not THAT cliché 🙂 But seriously, we bought big pickle jars every week!
Major aversion for me was salad – anything with greens turned me off completely.
Weird craving was for a McChicken. I don’t eat at McDonald’s and hadn’t for years and years. But I wanted one so badly. I didn’t give in, but that combo of craving and aversion made no sense. Isn’t your body supposed to want good things? Someone suggested it might be salt that made me crave that, but I think the pickles were taking care of that 🙂 In any case, my son (3) has never had McDonald’s and he will actually eat salad, so go figure.” (more…)
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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Growing up, my best memories of July 4th, the U.S. Independence Day, were picking out my clothes in shades of red, white and blue, helping my mom put our U.S. flag outside our house and getting to run around with fire sparklers around our backyard at night.
