by Wall Street Mama (USA) | Nov 8, 2013 | Communication, Food, Health, Kids, Motherhood, Nutrition, Parenting, World Motherhood, Younger Children
Last summer I was enjoying some peanut butter with my two year old son. It was the first time he really ate a decent amount and I was excited because he was such a picky eater and this would be a new food for him to enjoy. I had tested out giving him peanut butter three other times and he seemed to tolerate it fine. Each time he only had about a teaspoon and I closely watched him afterwards to see if there was a reaction.
However, this time, after about 20 minutes, I started to notice his lips swell and he got a blotchy rash on his cheeks and chin.
I immediately gave him Benadryl and then I Googled “peanut butter allergy.” All of the websites I came across listed lip swelling as one of the potentially life-threatening allergic reactions and a symptom of anaphylactic shock. I immediately called the doctor’s hotline since it was the weekend. I spoke to the doctor on call and he said as long as I gave him Benadryl and his breathing was fine that he should be okay. I still wonder if that was the right advice but we were fortunate that the Benadryl immediately alleviated his symptoms.
The next day I called to make an appointment to get him tested at the allergist. I was nervous but optimistic that maybe it was something else and not the peanut butter. After all, I gave it to him several times before and he seemed fine. Perhaps this was a fluke reaction to something else he may have picked up off the floor. I thought about the possibility of being “one of those peanut moms,” and held onto the optimism that my son would not have a peanut allergy. Looking back, I think of my ignorance as well as denial and wonder why I was so closed minded on the topic.
Sure enough, after my brave little guy got pricked in the back multiple times – I heard the dreaded diagnosis: “Your son is allergic to peanuts and tested at the highest end of the range, level 4.” My heart sank and I started to ask all of the usual questions: “What do I now? How does an Epi-pen work? Is he allergic to anything else and most importantly, will he ever grow out of it?”
The first answer was an overview on how to avoid peanuts by eliminating the food, reading labels, asking questions at restaurants and the importance of making sure that everyone who cares for your child knows about their allergy and what measures to take if they ingest peanuts or have a reaction. Then the doctor showed me how to use an Epi-Pen and explained that the box would come with a tester that I could practice with on an orange. As for other allergies, my son did not test positive for any other food groups or animals – just a mild allergy to dust and mold. Lastly, the doctor said that there was a 20% chance he could grow out of it, but not that likely.
I left the office with a feeling of dread and to be honest, at that moment I felt pretty depressed. When I told my husband and my family, their first response was “Oh, he’ll grow out of it.” As if the allergy was not real or that it would disappear as time went on. I know they did not mean it that way, they were trying to alleviate my concern, but it almost felt like someone was telling me his new diagnosis was not real. I started to think of what a severe allergy meant and how it would affect treats, birthday parties, holidays, eating out and the fact that my child would be one of those kids in the lunchroom at the “peanut free table.”
I decided to post a comment on Facebook asking for tips and ideas from anyone else who had a child with a peanut allergy. I couldn’t believe how many of my friend’s children had it and I never knew. They gave me so many awesome tips, links to allergy websites, as well as lists of which cookies and snacks were safe. I immediately felt so much better and knew that if they could deal with it with such confidence, I would be able to as well. Time and time again, the best support in life comes from other mothers!
Since the diagnosis, I have dealt with the usual frustrations that “allergy parents” have. Constantly reminding family members to check labels before feeding your child when in their care, following your child around at birthday parties making sure they don’t eat anything off of a table, bringing your own snacks or treats to events and restaurants, having panic attacks when you go for a quick ride or a day out and realize the Epi-pen is in your other bag at home and lastly – explaining over and over again that peanut allergies are real and my child can die if they have peanuts!
At times, you feel like the crazy person, the exaggerator, the neurotic one. The bottom line is that my child is my number one priority and so is their life. I really don’t care what anyone thinks!
As mothers, we all have something to worry about. I have met many other moms with children who have allergies, and they have it much worse than my son. There are many children who can’t eat wheat, milk and eggs – common ingredients in many of the basic foods out there. I find that much harder to manage than a simple peanut. I actually consider us very lucky that he is only allergic to one thing. Dealing with allergies can be stressful but is also manageable, at least for right now. I am nervous for the future and most days I try not to let it preoccupy our lives. I wonder if my one year old daughter will have it too. I cross my fingers and hang on to the hope that he will fall into the 20% of children that outgrow it. But at the end of the day, my child is happy and healthy and that is most important in life. What more can we ask for?
Do any of your children have allergies? What are the biggest challenges you have encountered with managing an allergy?
This is an original post to World Moms Blog by Wall Street Mama of New Jersey, USA.
Mr. Peanut photo credit to Tomas Fano. No peanuts allergy alert pendant photo credit to BeInspiredDesigns. Both photos have a creative commons attribute license.
Wall Street Mama was born and raised in the suburbs of Chicago and moved to NJ when she was a teenager. She fell in love with New York City and set her mind to one thing after college – working on Wall Street. She has spent the last 16 years working on the trading floor at three major banks. As an Institutional Salesperson, she is responsible for helping large corporations and money funds invest their short term cash in the fixed income part of the market. She lives in the suburbs of central NJ with her husband of 11 years, their amazing 21 month old boy and their first baby – a very spoiled Maltese. She has baby #2 on the way and is expecting a little girl in June 2012. She is a full time working mother and struggles with “having it all” while wondering if that is even possible.
Wall Street Mama was married at the age of 25 but waited to have children because she felt she was too focused on her career which required a lot of traveling and entertaining. When she was finally ready, she thought she could plan the exact month she was ready to have a child, like everything else she planned in her life. She was shocked and frustrated when things did not go according to her plan. Fast forward four years later, after a miscarriage and several rounds of failed fertility injections, her little miracle was conceived naturally. She never thought in a million years, that she and her husband would be in their late 30’s by the time they had their first child.
Since the financial crisis of 2008, she has endured some of the most difficult years of her life. The stress of trying to conceive was combined with some of life’s biggest challenges. She and her husband, who is a trader, both lost their jobs on Wall Street the exact same month. Her mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer and she ended up passing away while she was 6 months pregnant. At times it didn’t seem like things would ever get better, but she has learned that life is cyclical and what comes down must again go up.
Leaving her baby boy with a wonderful nanny each day is difficult, but at times it is easier than she would have expected. She still enjoys the seemingly addictive draw of working on Wall Street. The past few years have been dramatically different from the “good days” but she is focused on trying to achieve what she once had before. She is currently working on launching her own blog, Wall Street Mama, in an attempt to guide others who are focused on continuing their career, yet struggle with leaving their little ones at home. She is weathering the ups and downs of the market and motherhood, one day at a time.
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by Martine de Luna (Philippines) | Nov 7, 2013 | Family, Motherhood, Parenting, Philippines, World Motherhood
We took a family vacation over the Halloween long weekend, and headed up to the northern part of Luzon (our region in the Philippines) to the small beach town of San Juan, in the city of La Union. It’s well-known in Asia as a premiere destination for surfers, which is the very reason why my family heads up here regularly. (Well, it’s more because of my younger brothers, who actually surf! I’m content to take in the views, wade in the calmer waters, and collect sea shells during our sojourns here.)
The photo above was taken during our second morning there, when the kids (my own, and those of my brothers’) had woken up bright and early, thanks to the crisp, clean sea air and the slow, stress-free vibe of the provincial town.
Getting away from the big city is always good for me. Prior to this trip, I was coming off a hectic ride, work-wise. We’d just concluded a big event for the work-at-home mom community here in Manila (which you can read about here, the WAHMderful Weekend). I had a string of blog coaching and website clients to take care of. To top it off, I was conducting a string of blogging workshops, which I love doing, but they always leave me mind-weary by the end. (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 Elizabeth Atalay | Nov 6, 2013 | 2013, Africa, Education, Social Good, World Moms Blog, World Voice, Younger Children
Singing and dancing is the order of the day as this procession of Save the Children preschool graduates, teachers and community members in Mozambique’s Gaza Province makes its way across the school ground to the nearby primary school, where the little graduates will be studying next year. Photo credit: Pei Ketron for Save the Children. October 2013.
In a newly published preschool programs are described as a promising policy option for improving the school readiness and later success of poor and disadvantaged children in rural Africa.
Tonight at 9pm EST World Moms Blog will join Save The Children and Multicultural Kid Blogs at #Moms4MDGs to discuss the importance of early education, and as a specific example, the success of the Save The Children preschool program in Mozambique. Ajla Grozdanic of Save The Children recently returned from a site visit to Mozambique and the early education programs there. She shared her insight in an interview with World Moms Blog as a lead up to tonights Twitter party:
World Moms Blog: In a Chicken & Egg sense, are early education programs only able to be initiated in areas where some basic infrastructure is already in place, i.e. access to clean water, healthcare & nutrition, or are they catalysts for communities to begin to pull out of extreme poverty?
AG: We are able to initiate education programs in communities at any level. In other words, having a basic infrastructure in place is not a pre-requisite for education programs, which can range from in-home daycare to in-school programs.
In fact, early childhood education can bring catalytic change for communities. Early childhood development centers and programs provide an opportunity to reach young children with basic services like healthcare and nutrition, which can be more difficult to deliver if we depended on parents to seek out these services on their own. Early childhood development centers also facilitate community mobilization, bringing parents and other community members together for projects, such as digging wells or cleaning stagnant water that hosts malaria.
Young children naturally learn from and imitate what’s in their environment–good or bad. For this reason, educating young children is key and it fosters the kinds of attitudes and behavior that can improve community well-being over the long term, such as developing good hygiene and healthy eating habits and sharing this knowledge with siblings and neighborhood children.
WMB: Could you explain a bit why Mozambique was a good fit for this program? What is the success rate for other similar early education programs Save the Children runs in other countries?
AG: Mozambique had very low coverage for preschool or early childhood development programs, so the need and demand was high. It’s also important to note that the local communities demonstrated an openness and eagerness to engage in these issues. Communities saw the potential and agreed to invest in their young children. Once they saw the results, which were very good, the word spread and the demand grew.
The World Bank Study, which is the first such evaluation of early childhood development programs in Africa, showed that children in rural Mozambique, who attended Save the Children’s preschool programs, were 24 percent more likely to enroll in primary school and were significantly better equipped to learn than children not covered by the program. While we haven’t had the funding to conduct similar studies in other countries where we offer such programs, our own results monitoring shows a similar success rate across the board.
Save the Children preschool graduate, Vania, 5, from the Gaza Province in Mozambique, joined by a future classmate, gets a taste of what it will be like to sit at a real desk when she enters primary school next year. Preschoolers in her village are used to sitting on mats on the floor and were excited to sit in ‘big-kid’ chairs and desks at the nearby primary school. Photo credit: Pei Ketron for Save the Children. October 2013.
WMB: Do you see the benefits in terms of kids who have had these early intervention programs staying in school longer, and particularly for girls, marrying later or are these programs too new to tell yet?
AG: Children enrolled in preschool have a greater chance of going to school, going to school at the right age, and staying in school longer. They have higher graduation rates and are less likely to drop out of school or end up imprisoned. What’s more, staying in school is a mechanism to protect girls from early marriage. While it’s still too early to prove long-term benefits of preschool, such as that it results in girls marrying later in life, we hope to conduct such longitudinal studies in the future.
WMB: Are the children given meals through the program as an incentive for parents to send them or are the community members generally open and willing participants?
AG: It is usually not sustainable to provide meals to all children who are enrolled in preschool. Taking this into account, in most communities preschool lasts for half the school day so children can come home for meals. In some communities, parents might pool their resources in order to provide meals at preschools. In addition, preschools provide an opportunity to educate parents on how to improve nutrition for their child.
The willingness of parents to enroll their children in preschool varies from parent to parent and from community to community. Oftentimes, we’ll have a group of early adopters who are eager to enroll their children and whose success, in turn, inspires a wave of other parents–who prefer a stand-back, wait-and-see approach–to sign up their little ones.
WMB: Had you been to Mozambique before?
AG: No, this was my first time.
WMB: What is the best way people reading could support the Save the Children preschool programs in the developing world?
AG: Your readers could become a sponsor to support early childhood programs in developing countries. They could also advocate to the U.S. government to include preschool and early childhood development in its international aid programs. To learn more, visit www.savethechildren.org.
WMB: How have the mothers responded to these programs? (ie. gives them the opportunity to go to work or tend to smaller children)
AG: We encourage the participation of both mothers and fathers in their children’s education. Sending their children to preschool allows parents to tend to their daily chores, work in the field or otherwise provide for their family while knowing that their children are in good hands and are learning, to boot. In traditional societies, where childcare falls on women, preschools certainly offer an opportunity for women to engage in more productive labor and earn an additional income for their family. And we know from experience that when women earn more income for their families, they tend to invested in their children.
Vania, 5, practices the alphabet and counting every day with her father, Armando, who is a teacher at his daughter’s preschool, which is supported by Save the Children. Photo credit: Pei Ketron for Save the Children. October 2013.
This is an original interview and post for World Moms Blog.
Elizabeth Atalay is a Digital Media Producer, Managing Editor at World Moms Network, and a Social Media Manager. She was a 2015 United Nations Foundation Social Good Fellow, and traveled to Ethiopia as an International Reporting Project New Media Fellow to report on newborn health in 2014. On her personal blog, Documama.org, she uses digital media as a new medium for her background as a documentarian. After having worked on Feature Films and Television series for FOX, NBC, MGM, Columbia Pictures, Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox, and Castle Rock Pictures, she studied documentary filmmaking and anthropology earning a Masters degree in Media Studies from The New School in New York. Since becoming a Digital Media Producer she has worked on social media campaigns for non-profits such as Save The Children, WaterAid, ONE.org, UNICEF, United Nations Foundation, Edesia, World Pulse, American Heart Association, and The Gates Foundation. Her writing has also been featured on ONE.org, Johnson & Johnson’s BabyCenter.com, EnoughProject.org, GaviAlliance.org, and Worldmomsnetwork.com. Elizabeth has traveled to 70 countries around the world, most recently to Haiti with Artisan Business Network to visit artisans in partnership with Macy’s Heart of Haiti line, which provides sustainable income to Haitian artisans. Elizabeth lives in New England with her husband and four children.
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by Elizabeth Atalay | Nov 5, 2013 | 2013, Childhood, Education, Social Good, World Voice, Younger Children
Photo Credit Save The Children
Where I live it is a given that most parents will send their kids to pre-school, some as young as two years old. It is common belief that early education builds a strong foundation for future learning, and we take for granted that our kids will go on to higher education. In other areas of the world where food security, clean water, sanitation and extreme poverty are primary concerns, education can be a luxury. In some cases in these areas it is not uncommon for an older child to begin formal primary education for the first time creating classrooms of mixed ages.
Back in 2008, a $1 million donation from the 2007 Idol Gives Back television special, helped to build escolinhas or preschool centers targeting orphans and vulnerable children for Save the Children‘s program in Mozambique. Since then the program has reached about 5,000 three to six year olds and their families, and it continues to run with the help of trained volunteers from rural communities.
Children in developing countries, like Mozambique, who attend early childhood development programs are more likely to enroll in school and enter school at the right age. This is important because children who are over-age for their grade level are more likely to drop out, so early childhood development programs actually increase the chances that children will stay in school longer.
Due to the success of the preschool centers Save The Children was able to continue to find funding, and recently the progress seen in the area caught the eye of the Government of Mozambique, resulting in the implementation of similar early childhood education programs throughout the country.
A new World Bank evaluation shows early childhood programs help children thrive and learn more in rural Africa. The recently released , is good news for children and families in Africa.-Save The Children
In a country where most inhabitants live in rural interior areas that are prone to “hungry seasons” of flooding or drought, kids enrolled in early childhood development centers benefit from access to health care and interventional care such as deworming, malaria prevention, nutritional support or social welfare.
Investment in early childhood development can provide the greatest return, and the results from these Early Learning Centers are proof. It is important to reach kids before it is too late, before they have dropped out of school, or grown up without reaching their full potential. Development aid and countries have the opportunity to make a lasting difference in health outcomes, economic productivity, and educational opportunities by investing more human and financial resources into early childhood development programs.
To find out more about early education and Save The Children’s program in Mozambique join us tomorrow night, Wednesday November 6th from 9-10pm EST for a #Moms4MDGs twitter party with Save the Children, Multicultural Kids Blogs and World Moms Blog! Hope you can make it!
This is an original post written by Elizabeth Atalay of Documama for World Moms Blog.
Elizabeth Atalay is a Digital Media Producer, Managing Editor at World Moms Network, and a Social Media Manager. She was a 2015 United Nations Foundation Social Good Fellow, and traveled to Ethiopia as an International Reporting Project New Media Fellow to report on newborn health in 2014. On her personal blog, Documama.org, she uses digital media as a new medium for her background as a documentarian. After having worked on Feature Films and Television series for FOX, NBC, MGM, Columbia Pictures, Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox, and Castle Rock Pictures, she studied documentary filmmaking and anthropology earning a Masters degree in Media Studies from The New School in New York. Since becoming a Digital Media Producer she has worked on social media campaigns for non-profits such as Save The Children, WaterAid, ONE.org, UNICEF, United Nations Foundation, Edesia, World Pulse, American Heart Association, and The Gates Foundation. Her writing has also been featured on ONE.org, Johnson & Johnson’s BabyCenter.com, EnoughProject.org, GaviAlliance.org, and Worldmomsnetwork.com. Elizabeth has traveled to 70 countries around the world, most recently to Haiti with Artisan Business Network to visit artisans in partnership with Macy’s Heart of Haiti line, which provides sustainable income to Haitian artisans. Elizabeth lives in New England with her husband and four children.
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by Karyn Wills | Nov 4, 2013 | Being Thankful, Brothers, Childhood, Family, Family Travel, Friendship, Home, Inspirational, Kids, New Zealand, Older Children, Parenting, Relationships, Siblings, Traditions, Travel, Uncategorized, Vacationing, World Motherhood, Younger Children
I have three sons and they are a lot of fun. They are also a lot of noise, mess and busyness.
They adore one another most of the time and loathe one another at other times. Needless to say, living in a small house can get a little hectic and the fact that we live a car trip away from most of the boys’ friends—and I don’t always want to drive to fetch or deliver children—means that, from time to time, my boys can have a little too much of one another.
We are one small family and that can make us all tiresome to one another – no matter how strong the love between us.
The healthiness of living in an isolated, nuclear family unit has always bothered me a little. Not that living with my extended family or my in-laws would suit me, or them I suspect, either. But the cousins. Oh my goodness. The wonder of having cousins around – that appeals to me.
With cousins there is the common bond of grandparents and other family members, and the common history and the common family rituals. There is the emotional connection of knowing they all belong together, and the emotional connection of having been all together for their life times.
But, what I really love is the bond I see between our boys and all of their cousins in terms of visible affection and loyalty. When we have been away on holiday together, older cousins have often taken our boys off for adventures or have played with them, especially as babies and toddlers, so I could have a break. Younger cousins provide opportunities for my older boys to teach and help, in their turn. Sometimes it’s just fun to hang out together.
With their cousins, my boys are learning that things their brothers have said to them repeatedly, and they have ignored, are often the same opinions of others – and their cousins are not afraid to tell them so, sometimes bluntly. They are learning a higher level of co-operative skills and greater negotiation techniques, than they get to use with just two others. They are learning to walk away, when they need to walk away, and they are learning when it is appropriate to comment on another’s behaviour and when it is best to stay silent.
Like their brothers, their cousins love them. Unlike their brothers, their cousins are listened to. Like their friends, their cousins enjoy playing with them and will tell them to go away, when they‘ve had enough – but only for a short while. Unlike their friends, they cannot be transient members of their lives. And that last point, in particular, I love.
Do your children have good relationships with their cousins? Do you see a deeper bond between your children and their cousins, than with their friends?
Karyn is a teacher, writer and solo mother to three sons. She lives in the sunny wine region of Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand in the city of Napier.
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