by Courtney Cappallo (USA) | Jul 16, 2012 | 2012, Communication, Discipline, Domesticity, Education, Eye on Culture, Family, Kids, Life Lesson, Motherhood, Older Children, Parenting, USA, World Motherhood, Younger Children
We live in a fast-paced expressive world of almost forced informality. Most of us think we know how to act. You’d think that by the time people reached adulthood, they would have cultivated good manners. Simple observations would show otherwise.
Fred Astaire once said, “The hardest job kids face today is learning good manners without seeing any.”
Check this out: 9 out of 10 Americans (88%) feel that incivility is a serious problem and getting worse. Statistics prove that more than 8 in 10 Americans, both with kids and without kids, agree that bad parenting — the failure to instill good behavior in kids — is the major cause of bad manners (Bozell Worldwide/US News & World Report Civility in America Study 1999)
What is going on? There’s road rage, air rage, cellphone rage, sports rage, parking rage, bank rage, desk rage, and checkout rage. We are impatient — and when someone slows us down, we get rude and angry. (more…)
Courtney Cappallo is a mom of two girls, ages 7 and 4-years-old. She is living her dream life by residing on Cape Cod and being able to stay at home with her two little beauties. Courtney is currently homeschooling both of her daughters for 2nd grade and preschool, respectively.
Courtney uses a mix of Classical Education and Montessori. She is a strong believer in teaching to the five senses. Courtney’s homeschooling efforts are unique, as she uses the latest technology of the Smartboard. She is also taking on the task of learning Spanish as a second language, as well as, teaching her two children and husband Spanish.
Prior to becoming a homeschooling teacher, Courtney was the Director of Marketing for Simon Property Group, which is the largest U.S. real estate company. Courtney was Simon’s Director of Marketing for the Burlington Mall, Arsenal Mall and Cape Cod Mall. Courtney is a graduate of Villanova University and is proud of her small town roots from growing up in Oxford, Pennsylvania, which only has two traffic lights! She can be found making homeschooling lessons and more at Table of Four !
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by Nihad | Jul 12, 2012 | Family, Motherhood, Parenting, World Motherhood
Where in the world do you live? And, are you from there?
I live in Alexandria – Egypt. I was born there and I spent most of my life in this lovely city.
What language(s) do you speak?
My mother tongue is Arabic, I speak English and I have a good command of French.
When did you first become a mother?
On November 1997 I became a mother for the first time and on October 2003 for the second time. (more…)
Nihad is an Egyptian woman, who was born and has lived her whole life in Alexandria, Egypt. She says, “People who visited this city know how charming and beautiful this city is. Although I love every city in Egypt, Alexandria is the one I love the most.”
She is a software engineer and has worked in the field for more than twenty years. But recently she quit her job, got a coaching certificate and she is now a self employed life and career coach. She says, “I believe that women in this era face big challenges and they are taking huge responsibilities. That's why I have chosen my niche -- women looking for happiness and satisfaction. I help and support them in making whatever change (career change, life change, behavior change, belief change…) they want to bring more satisfaction and happiness in their lives.”
Nihad is a mother of two lovely boys, 15 and 9 years old. She states, “They are the most precious gifts I have ever had. I madly love them, and I consider them the main source of happiness in my life.”
Our inspiring mother in Egypt can also be found at Aurora Beams Life Coaching.
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by Eva Fannon (USA) | Jul 12, 2012 | Eva Fannon, Family, Kids, Life Balance, Motherhood, Parenting, USA, Working Mother, World Motherhood
Work life has been pretty tough over the past month. It has been full of deadlines…and unfortunately work life has spilled over into home life.
After the girls have gone to bed, I’ve sat in bed working on a laptop and even putting in a few hours on the weekend. The deadlines have mostly been met, so tonight I was enjoying getting dinner ready. I was relaxed. I had some music playing, a glass of wine beside me, and the girls were playing contently. Ah….peace.
Suddenly, beside me appeared my youngest. I looked down and said, “What’s up sweetie?” She looked at me, started coughing, and then vomited all over my feet and the surrounding floor. (more…)
Eva Fannon is a working mom who lives in the beautiful Pacific Northwest with her hubby and two girls. She was born and raised on the east coast and followed her husband out west when he got a job offer that he couldn't refuse. Eva has always been a planner, so it took her a while to accept that no matter how much you plan and prepare, being a mom means a new and different state of "normal".
Despite the craziness on most weekday mornings (getting a family of four out the door in time for work and school is no easy task!), she wouldn't trade being a mother for anything in the world. She and her husband are working on introducing the girls to the things they love - travel, the great outdoors, and enjoying time with family and friends. Eva can be found on Twitter @evafannon.
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by Natalia Rankine-Galloway (Morocco) | Jun 28, 2012 | Family, Motherhood, Parenting, World Interviews, World Moms Blog Writer Interview, World Motherhood
Where in the world do you live? And, are you from there?
Right now I live in Port Washington, New York but the clock is ticking. Starting in August, I will be living in (and blogging from) Tunis, the capital of Tunisia.
Where I am from is a more complicated question. I am a cultural mutt (Father Irish, Mother Peruvian) and global nomad, having been raised in the UK, Spain and Ireland and having accompanied my hubby to Japan. But my longest stint anywhere has been Long Island, New York (where I suffered through to high school). I think that’s enough to claim a place as home right?
What language(s) do you speak?
French and Spanish well. Japanese and German pitifully. Have delusions of learning Arabic. (more…)
Natalia was born a stone's throw from the Queen's racetrack in Ascot, UK and has been trying to get a ticket to the races and a fabulous hat to go with it ever since. She was born to a Peruvian mother and an Irish father who kept her on her toes, moving her to Spain, Ireland and back to the UK before settling her in New York for the length of middle and high school. She is still uncertain of what she did to deserve that.
She fled to Boston for college and then Washington, D.C. to marry her wonderful husband, who she met in her freshman year at college. As a military man, he was able to keep her in the migratory lifestyle to which she had become accustomed. Within 5 months of marriage, they were off to Japan where they stayed for a wonderful 2 and one half years before coming home to roost. Baby Xavier was born in New York in 2011 and has not slept since.
A joy and an inspiration, it was Xavier who moved Natalia to entrepreneurship and the launch of CultureBaby. She has loved forging her own path and is excited for the next step for her family and CultureBaby.
Natalia believes in the potential for peace that all children carry within them and the importance of raising them as global citizens. She loves language, history, art and culture as well as Vietnamese Pho, Argentinian Malbec, English winters, Spanish summers and Japanese department stores...and she still hopes one day to catch the number 9 race with Queen Liz.
You can find her personal blog, The Culture Mum Chronicles.
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by Carol (Canada) | Jun 28, 2012 | Babies, Canada, Culture, Kenya, Motherhood, Parenting, Transportation, World Motherhood
There’s a coffee shop next to my workplace. A mom group meets up there, and when they are in session, I have to navigate an obstacle course of strollers.
Strollers, strollers, everywhere, and if you look closely you might spot the ten pound baby nestled at the heart of each.
Before I had a baby, I always wondered why women need something the size of a shopping cart to transport a bundle the size of a loaf of bread.
Even more baffling to me were the women who choose to lug their babies around by a car seat handle. When I was in grade eleven, I was given an eight pound “baby think-it-over”, which required tending through day and night. The baby (who I dubbed Jan Sebastian and grew deeply attached to, to the dismay of my Family Studies instructor) also came with a plastic car seat.
Tucked in my arms, Jan Sebastian didn’t weigh much and was easy enough to transport. But when I tried to carry him in that plastic seat, my shoulder started to ache.
It made me wonder what I was missing – why do so many women subject themselves to this? (more…)
Carol from If By Yes has lived in four different Canadian provinces as well as the Caribbean. Now she lives in Vancouver, working a full time job at a vet clinic, training dogs on the side, and raising her son and daughter to be good citizens of the world.
Carol is known for wearing inside-out underwear, microwaving yoghurt, killing house plants, over-thinking the mundane, and pointing out grammatical errors in "Twilight". When not trying to wrestle her son down for a nap, Carol loves to read and write.
Carol can also be found on her blog, If By Yes, and on Twitter @IfByYesTweets
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by Mamma Simona (South Africa) | Jun 27, 2012 | Childhood, Motherhood, Parenting, South Africa, World Motherhood
I know that the common saying is “Mommy’s boy and Daddy’s girl” … but in my home it’s the other way around … even though all 4 of us are “tight”!
From the moment he was born, my son and my husband immediately “clicked”. It was my husband who was able to calm him down when he had colic, and it was my husband who tamed the “terrible twos”. As he grew older, it was my husband who not only understood, but shared, his fascination with (and enjoyment of) computers and video games. Now my son is 19 years old and he works with his dad as a Website Developer. Me … I’m barely able to work the TV remote control! (more…)
Mamma Simona was born in Rome (Italy) but has lived in Cape Town (South Africa) since she was 8 years old. She studied French at school but says she’s forgotten most of it! She speaks Italian, English and Afrikaans. Even though Italian is the first language she learned, she considers English her "home" language as it's the language she's most comfortable in. She is happily married and the proud mother of 2 terrific teenagers! She also shares her home with 2 cats and 2 dogs ... all rescues.
Mamma Simona has worked in such diverse fields as Childcare, Tourism, Library Services, Optometry, Sales and Admin! (With stints of SAHM in-between). She’s really looking forward to the day she can give up her current Admin job and devote herself entirely to blogging and (eventually) being a full-time grandmother!
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We live in a fast-paced expressive world of almost forced informality. Most of us think we know how to act. You’d think that by the time people reached adulthood, they would have cultivated good manners. Simple observations would show otherwise.
