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 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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by Kyla P'an (Portugal) | Jun 30, 2011 | Education, Family, International, Japan, Kids, Language, Motherhood, Multicultural, Parenting, Preschool, Technology, USA, World Interviews, World Moms Blog Writer Interview
Where in the world do you live? And, are you from there?
I live just outside of Boston, Massachusetts, USA. If you are familiar at all with the Boston Marathon, we’re half way in, half way out (13.1 mi from the start or finish line).
No, I’m not from here. I grew up outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, an area known as the “Main Line.” But also in New England, where I spent my summers and attended boarding school from an early age. My husband and I met in Boston, moved to Washington, DC for a few years and then returned here for business school and to raise our kids.
What language(s) do you speak?
I speak English and Japanese. My husband and kids speak English and Mandarin Chinese. If I want to keep up, I better start learning Chinese soon or my two-year-old is going to start plotting cookie jar raids with his sister and I’ll never know! (more…)
Kyla was born in suburban Philadelphia but spent most of her time growing up in New England. She took her first big, solo-trip at age 14, when she traveled to visit a friend on a small Greek island. Since then, travels have included: three months on the European rails, three years studying and working in Japan, and nine months taking the slow route back from Japan to the US when she was done. In addition to her work as Managing Editor of World Moms Network, Kyla is a freelance writer, copy editor, recovering triathlete and occasional blogger. Until recently, she and her husband resided outside of Boston, Massachusetts, where they were raising two spunky kids, two frisky cats, a snail, a fish and a snake. They now live outside of Lisbon, Portugal with two spunky teens and three frisky cats. You can read more about Kyla’s outlook on the world and parenting on her personal blogs, Growing Muses And Muses Where We Go
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by Ewa Samples | Jun 30, 2011 | Childhood, Cooking, Culture, Family, Food, Humor, International, Kids, Language, Poland, Polish Mom Photographer, USA, World Moms Blog
Editor’s Note: The defamatory language in this post was incorrectly unedited, which does not comply with our writer’s guidelines. The inclusion of such language has detracted from the blog’s goal of supporting mothers that we are trying so hard to build in every post.
I believe that Polish Mom Photographer has good intentions, and the error is in the editor’s failure to initially comply with the blog’s already in place guidelines. World Moms Blog will continue to be a place where intelligent conversations on controversial topics can be had, but we will reintroduce these topics within the terms of our writer’s guidelines, issued at the time the blog was started. In this case, we have admittedly steered off course, and we apologize. Therefore, this article has been retroactively edited down to the recipe and reposted. (more…)
Ewa was born, and raised in Poland. She graduated University with a master's degree in Mass-Media Education. This daring mom hitchhiked from Berlin, Germany through Switzerland and France to Barcelona, Spain and back again!
She left Poland to become an Au Pair in California and looked after twins of gay parents for almost 2 years. There, she met her future husband through Couch Surfing, an international non-profit network that connects travelers with locals.
Today she enjoys her life one picture at a time. She runs a photography business in sunny California and document her daughters life one picture at a time.
You can find this artistic mom on her blog, Ewa Samples Photography, on Twitter @EwaSamples or on Facebook!
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by Kally Mocho (USA) | Jun 29, 2011 | Communication, Culture, Family, Humor, International, Motherhood, Parenting, USA, World Moms Blog
On a typical Wednesday night, I’m getting home from work at around 8:30 pm, having a glass of wine, and watching the sitcom, Modern Family, with my husband. By the time I get home, both kids are already asleep, and I’m exhausted after a long day.
This aforementioned day includes taking my daughter to and from a three-hour stint at preschool, while making sure my two-year-old son doesn’t cause grave injury to himself (or me for that matter). Then, at 3:00 pm, the babysitter comes over, and I’m off to work until 8:00 pm.
I know that a lot of other women juggle much more than I do, but keeping two children clean, clothed and fed, while chipping away at the household chores, is more than I can handle sometimes. That’s why it’s so refreshing to watch a show like Modern Family, where it’s okay to be a mom with imperfections. (more…)
by Margie Webb (USA) | Jun 28, 2011 | Family, Health, International, Life Lesson, Loss of Child, Motherhood, Parenting, USA
“You’re a hero, Ms. Henderson”. Dr. Hall quietly called the time of death as he knelt in front of the rocking chair, where I sat holding Elijah’s miniscule body. Once the respirator had been removed, it only took an hour for Elijah’s soul to leave this world.
Nothing about this moment made me feel like a hero. My premature baby boy, born at twenty-four weeks gestation and weighing only one pound and fifteen ounces, had just died.
After fighting for his life for twenty-four days, his mother made a terribly painful choice. His mother. Me. The one who couldn’t protect him in utero when, at twenty two weeks into my pregnancy, my appendix ruptured and went misdiagnosed for three days.
The one who couldn’t protect him, when close to my own death, I was forced to undergo an emergency open appendectomy. Despite receiving a lower dose of pain medicine for a horribly excruciating surgery, the stress of the ordeal sent my body into preterm labor. I failed Elijah at every turn. (more…)
Margie Webb is a forty-something, divorced mom of three biracial sons: Isaiah (25), Caleb (20), and Elijah (6/8/1997 - 7/2/1997) and two bonus sons: Malcolm (5/10/1992 - 10/9/2015) and Marcus (25). She lives in Lafayette,
Louisiana by way of Little Rock, Arkansas, and enjoys traveling, attending the theater, cooking calling the Hogs during Arkansas Razorback football season, spending time with family and friends, and is a crazy cat lady.
In addition to obtaining her Bachelors and Masters degree, she also has a Graduate Certificate in Online Writing Instruction and a National HR Certification through SHRM. She excels in her career as a Human Resources Management professional. Additionally, she has represented World Moms Network as a Digital Reporter at various conferences, including the United Nations Social Good Summit.
Her life has been one big adventure in twists, turns ,extreme lows, and highs. After recently embracing her new lease on life and her identity in the LGBTQ community, she is excited about what is yet to come. She can be found on Twitter@TheHunnyB
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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.
