by World Moms Blog | Jul 17, 2012 | Guest Post, Motherhood, Social Good, World Motherhood, World Voice, Younger Children
After a remarkably stress-free and soul-inspiring vacation in the Olympic Peninsula, my family of four settled back into reality, which for us is defined by a combination of preschool, daycare and two working parents. I work from home on Mondays and recently incorporated my five-year old into my workday.
He has his own small desk and an assortment of colored paper, pens, markers, scissors, stamps, etc. For a little while he does okay working independently beside me. However, soon enough he is wriggling and anxious for my undivided attention.
At midday I take a couple of hours “off” to spend outdoors with my son so we can both burn off a little energy before spending the afternoon indoors. On this particular day, nothing satisfied him. Not the dozens and dozens of books in our home. Not the hundred or so Legos that he typically adores. Not the puzzles, superhero figures, plastic dinosaurs, scorpions and spiders nor the plentiful assortment of recently acquired birthday gifts.
I want a new toy!
These are boring!
All my friends have way more toys than I do!
Have I set the stage for a less than awesome afternoon? (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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by Lauren @Hike.Blog.Love. (USA) | Jul 10, 2012 | Adoption, Adoptive Parents, Autism, Motherhood, Social Good, Special Needs, World Motherhood, World Voice
Lauren with her son adopted from Hong Kong on the day the adoption was finalized in court.
There is no denying the stress and challenges that often accompany living life with a disability or chronic illness. As a mom to a child with significant special needs, I am keenly aware of those daily challenges. With the support of family, however, many children born with special needs go on to live healthy, meaningful lives. But for children around the globe who live in orphanages and lack access to a family unit and good medical care, being born with special needs most often means a life-long sentence of institutionalization and neglect. My son was almost one such statistic.
In 2011, my family and I traveled to Hong Kong, China to adopt a four-year old child with autism and significant cognitive delay. After living in two different orphanages, international adoption was his last option before being sent to a mental institution to live out the remainder of his life.
UNICEF estimates that there are approximately 143 million orphaned children around the globe. There are no hard statistics on how many of those are special needs children. (more…)
Lauren is a lover of nature, an avid hiker and mama to two boys adopted from across the globe—one who happens to have autism. She is passionate about special needs adoption and the great outdoors.
You can find Lauren blogging about all of her adventures at "http://hikebloglove.com", Hike Blog Love. where she hopes to inspire others to get outdoors and explore. She fiercely believes that adventure is for all.
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by Ms. V. (South Korea) | Jun 26, 2012 | Family, Human Rights, Motherhood, Parenting, South Korea, The Advocates of Human Rights, USA, World Motherhood, World Voice
Okay, I’m just going to come out and say it: Feminist. There, I said it. We can all absorb and try to move on.
I joke, but, like all jokes, there is a kernel of truth within. I think in the case of feminism, there is more than a kernel of truth to the fact that, for many, the word feminist has a negative connotation. It brings to mind gangs of hairy arm-pitted, bra-less, angry, man-hating women. (more…)
Ms. V returned from a 3-year stint in Seoul, South Korea and is now living in the US in the beautiful Pacific Northwest with her partner, their two kids, three ferocious felines, and a dog named Avon Barksdale. She grew up all over the US, mostly along the east coast, but lived in New York City longer than anywhere else, so considers NYC “home.” Her love of travel has taken her all over the world and to all but four of the 50 states.
Ms. V is contemplative and sacred activist, exploring the intersection of yoga, new monasticism, feminism and social change. She is the co-director and co-founder of Samdhana-Karana Yoga: A Healing Arts Center, a non-profit yoga studio and the spiritual director for Hab Community. While not marveling at her beautiful children, she enjoys reading, cooking, and has dreams of one day sleeping again.
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by Allison Charleston (USA) | Jun 22, 2012 | Motherhood, Social Good, World Moms Blog, World Motherhood, World Voice
I have spent the past several weeks preparing to host the NYC GAVI Global Tea Party, and while I am excited, I am also very nervous and starting to wonder how it is going to all work out!
The GAVI Global Tea Party is a grass-roots international advocacy party started by World Moms Blog to help the GAVI Alliance spread the word about the importance of life-saving vaccinations for children in developing nations.
I was inspired to get involved when I read Jennifer Burden’s Facebook Status Update about her GAVI Global Tea Party in New Jersey. As some of you may remember, my last post was centered on “Giving Back”, and I was looking for a cause or charity that resonated with me and where I could spend some of my time helping others and making a difference.
This seemed like the perfect opportunity. I did some research on GAVI and the important work they do and decided I was “in”.
The challenge of hosting this type of event for me in New York City is that, New York City apartments being what they are (read small!); I needed to find a space to host the party. (more…)
Allison is a 35-year-old attorney-turned stay at home mom. This New York City mom lives on the Upper East Side of Manhattan with her 2-year-old son, Chase, and her husband, Andy. She is also expecting baby #2!
In her former life, she was an attorney practicing in a mega firm on NYC’s Park Avenue, putting in long hours, working hard and reveling in the fast pace of her life. She loved living in “the city”, and when she could, she took advantage of all it had to offer. But, when Chase was born over 2 years ago, that all changed. These days, the work has changed from writing legal briefs to changing diapers and the hours are longer, but she wouldn’t have it any other way!
Allison is enjoying her adventures as a metropolitan mommy, raising Chase in New York City and has gained strength from her longer-than-she-wanted-to-wait journey getting pregnant with her second child.
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by Jennifer Burden | May 15, 2012 | Motherhood, Shot@Life, Social Good, World Motherhood, World Voice
Actress, Amanda Peet, with World Moms Blog Founder, Jennifer Burden, in Times Square in NYC advocating for Shot@Life, life-saving vaccines for children in developing countries.
In January, World Mom’s Blog’s advocacy for global health and children began offline at the pilot grass-roots party thrown at my house for the UN Foundation’s new Shot@Life campaign.
For the first time, at that party, I talked candidly in front of my friends and my mom about why the movement for life-saving vaccines for children in the developing world resonated with me.
It was a difficult, personal story for me about my many pregnancy losses, how desperate I felt and how I want to prevent mothers around the globe from ever having to feel that desperate, tragic feeling. There are mothers in the world losing their children to diseases that we have the know-how to prevent. And I want to help.
I have since shared my story at a UN Foundation Volunteer Summit in Washington, D.C. and at my friend Jodi’s grass-roots Shot@Life Party in New Jersey. But, this past Friday was, well, a little different…
I accepted an invitation from the UN Foundation to open my heart and speak for a larger audience in NYC at the launch of the Shot@Life Public Service Announcement (PSA) on the big Toshiba Screen in Times Square. (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 Mannahattamamma (UAE) | May 3, 2012 | Being Thankful, Economy, Education, Human Rights, UAE, Women's Rights, World Voice
There’s a conversation that happens in expat-land that sounds a bit like what prisoners in a jail yard might say to one another:
“what brought you here?how long have you been here? when are you leaving?”
Sometimes people answer these questions with slumped shoulders and a shake of the head, which usually means that a) they’ve been here in Abu Dhabi for far too long and aren’t leaving any time soon; or b) they just got here and still haven’t figured out the basics, like getting the vegetables weighed in the produce section before they get in the checkout line.
The most cheerful answer I’ve gotten thus far to these questions has been from a woman named Janice, who is here from the Philippines. Her good cheer surprised me because at the time of our conversation, she was energetically applying a pumice to my heels. (more…)
After twenty-plus years in Manhattan, Deborah Quinn and her family moved to Abu Dhabi (in the United Arab Emirates), where she spends a great deal of time driving her sons back and forth to soccer practice. She writes about travel, politics, feminism, education, and the absurdities of living in a place where temperatures regularly go above 110F.
Deborah can also be found on her blog, Mannahattamamma.
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After a remarkably stress-free and soul-inspiring vacation in the Olympic Peninsula, my family of four settled back into reality, which for us is defined by a combination of preschool, daycare and two working parents. I work from home on Mondays and recently incorporated my five-year old into my workday.
