by World Moms Blog | Feb 16, 2013 | Saturday Sidebar, World Moms Blog
This week’s Saturday Sidebar Question comes from World Moms Blog writer Dee Harlow. She asked our writers,
“How can we raise our children to become self-assured men and women not focused on how they look?”
Check out what some of our World Moms had to say…
Young girl playing dress-up
Dee Harlow of Laos writes: “Under-praise cuteness/beauty? Over praise intelligence/capability? Be the role model? Already I rarely dress up, wear no makeup, air dry my hair, use no accessories, I am always in flats, but my daughter will still be influenced through classmates, advertisements, doll play, etc. We deprive our girl of a lot of the ‘girly’ stuff for now because it (unfortunately) will come. Nail polish already has, last month, from school friends.I am concerned that just because our son is a boy that we don’t have to be sensitive to certain things. My husband always says that because he is big, strong, athletic and coordinated that he will be able to overcome a lot of social concerns through sports. But really? Do we overlook certain issues with boys because of stereotypes, too?”
EcoZiva of Brazil writes: “Many of my son’s friends are extremely picky eaters and very skinny. They are all about the same size, aged 8-9, but my son (who is average in weight, while we can literally see his friends’ ribs) is about 10 kg (22 lbs) heavier than them. Once I made a comment at home on how skinny one of them was (how I regret that!). I don’t know if it had to do with that or with other things he has heard, but now every once in a while he will comment on how he is “fat” (he is not at all!!) and how he doesn’t want to surpass so many kilos. He hasn’t gone as far as try to diet or anything like that, but he does like to weigh himself and will say a “hurray” if his weight hasn’t changed. It really bothers me.
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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 Martine de Luna (Philippines) | Feb 15, 2013 | International, Motherhood, Philippines, World Moms Blog, World Motherhood
The “class” at the WAHMderful Life Workshop. (Photo courtesy of Manila Workshops)
In the last few months, I’ve seen just how powerful connections are between like-minded moms. That may sound funny, coming from a person who works alone, at home, with no one but husband, kid and kitchen as her constant companions! It’s the reality, of course, of many women like me, who are what I lovingly call “WAHMderful” women.
Being a work at home mom is challenging because you are often isolated, on your own. I felt this way, and I yearned for some form of community to fill in this void. As a mom, I needed to connect with other women who knew what I was going through as a mom who worked from home. I was hungry for the companionship of fellow moms who understood my dreams, my goals, my intentions as a parent.
And so, I made a bold intention, which I broadcast to the universe (and the people who read my blog): I wanted to create an event by work at home women, for work at home women. This event would connect, inspire and empower the work-at-home community in Manila to be the best mothers and homemakers they could be.
In short: It happened. Twice, in fact! 
We recently held our second “WAHMderful Life” workshop here in Manila. It was a meeting of the minds, as around 70 women (and two dads!) got together for a day of learning, support and empowerment. Our topic? Well, working from home, naturally! Aside from that, we had specific streams about actual work-at-home jobs for moms. It was all pretty informative! In fact, it was so successful (just like the first event, last October 2012), that we are re-running this workshop again this year. Best of all, I got to see one of my life list goals come to fruition.
And you know what? Seeing the fruit just motivates me to pursue more of my goals for the WAHM community. (more…)
Martine is a work-at-home Mom and passionate blogger. A former expat kid, she has a soft spot for international efforts, like WMB. While she's not blogging, she's busy making words awesome for her clients, who avail of her marketing writing, website writing, and blog consulting services. Martine now resides in busy, sunny Manila, the Philippines, with her husband, Ton, and toddler son, Vito Sebastian. You can find her blogging at DaintyMom.com.
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by specialneedmom2 | Feb 14, 2013 | Health
Achoo! Can someone pass me a tissue, again? It seems like not a week goes by without someone in my family being sick. It’s ‘cold and flu’ season in Canada, and we sure have had our share. The whole bunch of us went through countless colds, a couple episodes of a gastro virus, and a brush with the flu and high fevers.
We’ve had so many visits to the doctor’s office to check the kids’ cold symptoms (Is it an ear infection? Is there a wheeze in the baby’s chest?) that the receptionist recognises my voice over the phone.
Yes, it’s me again. I’m bringing in this child, this time. No, the other one is doing better now, thank you.
I have three children ages five and under. Someone is always sick or getting sick. We live in the land of the runny nose. Two of my children have serious special needs and they have their own unique medical concerns. So we go to the doctor, a lot.
And we remain grateful. Because all those trips to the doctor do not cost me a dime out of pocket. (more…)
Angela is a Special Education teacher who blogs about her super-powered special needs family. She has a 3 year old with Prader-Willi Syndrome and a 5 year old with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and Sensory Processing Disorder. The odds of these random genetic events occurring at the same time are astronomical. "When you add our typically developing one year old baby boy to the mix, you have a very busy household!", she explains.
Angela admits to having too many appointments, too many school problems, and being generally too busy as she tries to live life to the fullest. Please visit her family at Half Past Normal for more of their adventures! If you want to connect to chat, you can find her on Twitter @specialneedmom2
If you are interested in Special Education policies and procedures in Ontario – or just some excellent strategies and accommodations – please check out Angela's other site at Special Ed on the Bell Curve.
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by Mamawearpapashirt (Singapore) | Feb 13, 2013 | Life Balance, Life Lesson, Motherhood, Parenting, World Motherhood
2013 is still fresh out of the oven, and I’m already starting to feel like I’m dragging my feet.
I don’t know about you but I wish things could slow down a little, and that I could breathe out some stress and breathe in more joy…
As a mum, there are many things I want to do.
I wanna play with my kids, and teach them useful things, things that mold their character and resilience.
I want time to work on my dreams, to grow and develop my skills, to read more books and learn from great writers.
I wanna be a perfect wife running a clock-work household.
I wanna have time to sit and sip away, journalling in a cafe, and feel free to be myself again.
If only.
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June, born and bred on the sunny and sometimes rainy shores of Singapore, is a mother of two - a chatty 4 y.o. girl and a toddler boy who babbles. She works part-time as a communication consultant, and she is deeply passionate about family, writing, faith, and good old-fashioned love. She can be found on her blog, Mamawearpapashirt.
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by World Moms Blog | Feb 12, 2013 | Kenya, Social Good, World Voice
We meet interesting people on all platforms! Twitter led us to Evans Wadango, the founder of Sustainable Development For All, an organization in Kenya. At only 19 years old he came up with a revolutionary idea, the “Use Solar, Save Lives” program to enable families to receive a regular source of income after getting solar lamps. Interested in the type of self-starter that he is from his home country of Kenya, we invited him to write us a guest post:
On my recent visit to Western Kenya, I met so many people living in dynamic villages, with different economic conditions. Some of the villages have electricity cables passing along the main road, but the families living just fifty meters from the electricity cable cannot afford the cost of tapping to it. Although I saw the worrying trend of a rapid decrease in the size of land owned by each family, some families grew sugarcane while others grew maize.
My friend and I visited one of the villages Sustainable Development For All-Kenya has been working in for several years where we met women of Mumashi group holding their usual meeting. I saw children going to school, healthy women and children, and more importantly, happy faces. The women were learning how to bake cakes. My friend asked the women how the baking of cakes was going to change their lives. The women were so eager to answer- but the group leader, mama Ruth explained: (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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